It Feels Like Home
by stealth-101
Summary: SS all the way. Summer and Seth are married and living in New York, with the cutest baby in the world. Their tales of life in a new city, with a demanding baby and just general Seth and Summer antics. Read, you'll definitely enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, or locations, or anything really. The only OC related items I own are the box sets. **

**A/N: Hi everyone. This is my first ever fanfic, of the OC or any other show. I have no idea how it's turning out so reviews would be greatly appreciated. The title of the fic is taken from a song by Chantal Kreviazuk and the chapter title is a Ben Harper song. **

**So this story is about Summer and Seth, who have been married for three years. They have just discovered they are expecting a baby. When Seth gets transfered to New York, can their relationship handle the pressure? And of course, being Seth and Summer, a lot of things happen that have them questioning their solid relationship, both in and out of their control.**

**CHAPTER 1: WAITING FOR YOU**

Summer knew she was being selfish. It wasn't Seth's fault he had to go on a business trip. She knew that he needed to do it to further the big-shot law career he was creating for himself. She knew that one month in the grand scheme of things really wasn't too bad. Missing her husband like mad for one month but then having him happy and successful for the rest of their lives was a small price to pay. She just wished it wasn't so long. One month was way too long to be away from your husband.

And he was coming back tomorrow, she got that too, but at that moment she was angry with him because he was missing their anniversary.

And three years _was _a really long time to be married. And they'd been going out for way longer than three years, so it was a pretty important day, and Seth was missing it.

So, here was how she was spending her anniversary:

Alone; sitting on their plush, expensive sofa, watching reruns of _Grey's Anatomy _and eating Ben and Jerry's. Wearing her least flattering sweats and crying because Denny just died – again. She should be wearing a low-cut, revealing (but not slutty) dress and be eating a romantic dinner that he had spent all day preparing for her. It should have been passionate and romantic beyond belief, but instead it was downright depressing. What kind of 26 year old woman sits around moping on their anniversary?

She knew what her problem was as well. She was pregnant; hormonal and alone. She hadn't told Seth the news because she wanted to tell him in person. She couldn't even tell anyone before Seth, so she was holding in the happiest secret of her life, and was ready to burst.

They'd been trying almost a year. When it feels right, just do it, they always said. And they knew twenty five was pretty young to start trying for a family, but they knew nothing bad would happen between them anytime soon, and they were so ready to have a mini Cohen running around. Summer couldn't wait to see what Seth was going to be like when they had a baby in the house. Probably completely out of his comfort zone but loving every minute, was Summer's s guess.

So Summer was sitting alone, consuming the entire tub of ice-cream, while her husband jet-setted around the world. And she hated it.

Summer woke up several hours later. She had fallen asleep with the ice-cream in her lap and it had gone everywhere. Lucky she had almost eaten the whole thing, so it wasn't too bad. God, she was already getting so fat! She knew her body would change with pregnancy but it already felt as if she weighed a thousand pounds. She hoped Seth wouldn't be turned off. She was only 3 months pregnant and already the size of a whale. Or so it seemed.

She quickly cleaned up the mess she created and tried to tidy up a little bit. She needed Seth at home because without him she didn't really care how messy it got. There was make-up and dirty clothes thrown everywhere and the kitchen was disgusting. At least she knew Seth wouldn't mind because the only thing he would be worried about was catching up. In more ways than one.

She left for the airport in a hurry; she knew that the last thing she wanted was Seth to arrive at the gates and realise she'd forgotten him. She got to the airport with an hour to spare, so she got a People Magazine and read about the stars of the Valley in rehab and jail. Celebrities these days, she thought, what a waste of fame.

She was at the gate with thirty minutes to spare, but was convinced that if she went away for a second, it would be the second that Seth walked through the gates. So she stayed put.

Obsessively looking at the arrivals board, she noticed at exactly 16:21 the "arrived" sign flashed on for the United 54 flight from JFK airport. That was Seth's plane! A bit of a crowd had now gathered at the terminal; she supposed they were waiting for their loved ones too, but none were quite as keen as Summer, who was the first one there.

People started streaming through the doors. She was convinced Seth would be the first person out, but when the first ten people came through and Seth wasn't one of them, she was getting anxious. Then she saw him.

As soon as Seth's plane landed, he jumped up to get to the front of the line. Unfortunately for him, he was just behind a group of kids who kept holding up the line as they ran back to look for yet another toy or computer game.

He pushed in front of a very angry looking older couple, but didn't care how rude he was being because he was just so excited. He hadn't seen Summer – his Summer – in over a month. Sure, they'd talked every day – for hours – but it just wasn't the same. He needed to hold her close, smell her shampoo and see her beautiful face close up.

He finally got to the gates, and immediately saw Summer, standing away from the rest of the crowd. She was wearing a black dress that flowed out beneath her waist, layered with chunky blue jewellery. She looked awesome. He knew she probably planned her outfit for hours preparing for this moment. It was important for both of them.

Summer knew she shouldn't be acting like this. She was 26; she should be mature and wait patiently for Seth to come over before giving him a quick kiss. But she just couldn't. The second she saw him all maturity was lost and she ran towards him. She flung herself into his arms and wrapped her arms around his neck. Luckily, Seth more or less expected this, and wrapped his arms around her waist to steady her. He breathed in the fruity scent of her shampoo and kissed her head before she looked up and their eyes met.

"Cohen, I missed you so much."

"Me too, baby. I can't believe I survived a month without you."

"Don't ever do it again. I don't think I could handle it."

"I know. I won't.

"Seriously though, if you try it on again, I will kill you."

Then she kissed him. It was the most desperate, passion filled kiss they'd ever had. It even topped their wedding day, because on that day they'd seen each other the night before, and had not had to wait a whole month before laying eyes on each other.

Summer imagined their display was attracting quite a crowd, but she didn't care. She was just so glad that Seth was back. When their kiss ended, Seth slung his arm around Summer's shoulder and they went off to the baggage claim, not moving further than an inch away from each other the entire time.

Somehow they made it to the car before kissing again, but weren't so patient in the car. Every traffic light they stopped at they were at it again. Being away from each other for a whole month tends to do that to people.

"So Cohen, what do you want to do tonight, should we go to the Arches or the Yacht Club for dinner?"

"Actually, I was thinking there was something we could do back at home."

"Oh yeah, there's a load of washing and the kitchen needs some serious work."

"That wasn't exactly what I was thinking of."

"I know," said Summer with a smirk, and began stroking Seth's leg, sending shivers down his spine. He had just missed her so much.

She didn't know how they made it through the front door. Their neighbours, a random old couple with a few million dollars to spare, gave them hugely disapproving looks as they stopped halfway up their driveway for a little make-out session.

When they were safely inside, Summer said,

"Oh my god, did you see the look on Beverly's face? She must totally hate us."

"You might not believe this, but Beverly and Richard aren't foremost on my mind."

Then he threw her up against the wall, and she wrapped her legs around his waist as he supported her weight while never letting his lips leave hers. His hands were running up her smooth legs, lifting her dress up to her waist so it wasn't an obstacle. She made a gesture to move towards the bedroom, which was upstairs, so Seth readjusted his arms so he was in a perfect position to carry her up the windy staircase. Several times on the trip upstairs, they nearly fell over as they were trying to kiss at the same time, but finally made it up in one piece.

"Oh, I almost forgot," said Seth, tearing away from Summer for an instant. "Happy Anniversary!"

As they closed the door to their master bedroom, Summer shrieked as Seth threw her on the bed and climbed on top of her.

"Now this was more along the lines of what I was thinking."

It was definitely going to be a night to remember.

**A/N: I don't know whether to continue this story or not, so please review and tell me what you think. Happy Christmas.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything to do with the OC but I can proudly say that this plotline is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews. I think I replied to everyone but if I didn't I'm really sorry and will try to do it soon. This story begins with a bit of fluff but I promise it gets more dramatic later on. And also, I'm trying to make the chapters longer so the rest will be longer than the first one. Please review because I need to know if people are actually reading the story and want me to keep writing it.**

**Anyway, that's all.**

**Enjoy!!!**

**CHAPTER 2: A NIGHT (and day) TO REMEMBER**

"That was amazing"

"I know. I should leave more often, shouldn't I?"

"Don't. Ever. If you do I might actually kill you."

"I know sweetie. I was joking. I don't think I could ever, ever leave you again. Not even for a single day. But on that note, I have some big news."

"It doesn't involve you leaving again does it? Because if it does, I'm gonna have to draw the line and say no way. You're not leaving again."

"No, that's not exactly what it's about."

"Good. I have some big news too. You go first though."

"No, you go. You sound more excited."

"OK. Are you ready? Cos my news is probably the biggest news in the world. I'm talking huge. Beyond huge. Are you sure you're ready?"

"Go for it."

"Alright, well when you were away, I started feeling nauseous, like all the time, and getting a bit dizzy."

"Oh sweetie, are you OK?" Seth started stroking the hair away from Summer's face, getting worried about what was wrong with her.

"I'm totally fine. Actually, I'm better than fine. I'm pregnant!"

The look on Seth's face was worth the whole time they spent apart. A look of genuine and unadulterated ecstasy spread across his face, and his massive smile couldn't be removed.

He started kissing her madly, on the mouth, neck, and trailing down to her stomach.

"My baby's in there right now? I can't believe it! How far along?"

"Three months. Beating heart and everything!"

"When did you find out?"

"Three weeks ago. You have no idea how hard it was to not spill to you, or anyone else. But I just had to see the look on your face. It was so worth it. And I wanted to tell you, I wanted to tell you so badly, because I know how much you wanted it, how much we wanted it. But I knew no matter how much I wanted to tell you as soon as I could, it would be so much better to tell you in person. And I was right. There's no way it would've been as good over the phone."

He kissed her again, and they lay there facing each other for a while, just smiling and feeling completely comfortable. It reminded Summer of her wedding night.

_Smiling and greeting all the guests at the reception was really taking it out of her. All she wanted to do was be with her husband. She was now Mrs Cohen. How great was that? _

_Gradually, all the guests left. Summer and Seth got into their white stretch limo and were driven to the hotel. The screen was up between them and the driver, which was lucky because they were doing things that no one else should see. They had an hour before they reached the hotel, and didn't want to waste it. _

_When they arrived at the hotel and got out of the car, the driver gave them a very strange look._

_They booked into the Honeymoon Suite and were barely through the door before her dress was completely gone and his jacket was lying forgotten on the floor._

_They were up all night, and it wasn't until midday the next day before they were lying exhausted in the bed, facing each other, smiling._

"_Can you believe I'm Mrs Cohen?"_

"_I know, and I'm still Mr Cohen, but now officially a Mr, and not a master, which is technically what males are before they are married, unless they choose to be a mister from early on, or a master for always; unless they – "_

"_Cohen, just because you are now my husband doesn't mean you can rant on and on. I can still hurt you, you know."_

"_But I AM your husband."_

_He planted a big kiss on her nose, then snuggled up close to her and breathed in her scent._

"_I can't believe we're married! I don't think I'll ever get used to it."_

"_Well you better, because I don't want you hooking up with anyone. You belong to me now, my little Summer."_

_"And you to me Mr Cohen."_

_"Really, Mrs Cohen? I don't think I can handle being owned by a woman."_

_"Well you better get used to it Mr Cohen."_

_She started running her fingers lightly up his thigh, loving how quickly Seth responded to her touch._

_"Whatever you say Mrs Cohen."_

She still smiled every time she thought of that night. It was undoubtedly the best night of her life; until tonight. This night possibly topped even their wedding night.

"What's your news Cohen?"

"Well, it's not nearly as exciting as yours. I can't believe you didn't tell me earlier!"

"Well, I wanted to see the look on your face. It was so worth it."

He took her hand in his and started kissing it slowly.

"Was it really worth me not knowing that I was going to be a dad?" Summer crinkled up her nose. "If I had known that, I would never have had so many affairs in New York." She slapped him. "Maybe a few, but not quite so many."

"I know you'd never do that, you're too scared about what I'd do to you if I found out. I'm still stronger than you, and don't you forget it."

"You'd never let me forget it Summ."

"So, Mr Cohen, what's your big news?"

"Well Mrs Cohen, I was talking to my boss, and he said we were opening up a new firm in New York."

"So the firm's doing well?"

"Kind of. They're actually closing the Newport firm down and moving all the business over there."

"What does that mean for you? Are they giving you a severance package or payout or something?"

"They actually want me to move over to New York and become the new managerial adviser for the property and equity sector."

"But Cohen, New York is so far away!"

"I know. So I have two options. I can resign and look for another job in Newport, or we can move to New York. Now, before you just told me your news, I was really thinking we should go with option one, but that would mean I would lose almost six months of backed up holiday leave and I could use that to take time off and help with the baby. If I get a new job, I wouldn't have any leave at all and wouldn't be able to take any time off when the baby comes."

"But if you took the job in New York?"

"All the leave I've gathered up will go with me, and I'll get more benefits and a pay rise for having to leave everything behind."

"So what do you reckon?"

"Well Summ, it's completely up to you. If you want to stay in Newport I'm more than happy to get a new job, but I probably won't be around very much to help. If you want me to have time off, we'll have to move to New York. Whatever you want to do, I am completely happy to follow."

"Can I think about it?"

"Of course you can baby."

She snuggled up close to Seth and rested her head on his chest. He instinctively wrapped his arms around her tiny figure, and rested his chin on top of her head. Their legs intertwined and he lightly kissed the top of her head. It was funny that it was routine; they always slept cuddled up to each other because it was just so much nicer than staying on their own side of the bed and laying there cold and lonely.

What was the point of being married if you didn't even cuddle up close in bed? No point at all.

As they lay there, Summer reflected on the tough decision she had to make, but for now she could take comfort in the fact that Seth was back for good, and nothing could tear them apart.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The next morning, Seth woke to find a deeply sleeping Summer wrapped up in his arms. For a while, he was happy to let he sleep, thinking about the little baby she was carrying, and the night they had just spent together.

But then he got bored.

He began to trail light kisses across her face and neck, and stroke her hair. She started to stir, and looked up at him sleepily before capturing his mouth in a kiss. She rolled over until she was lying on top of him, and his hands began to wander, over her arms, thighs and stomach. He rested his hands over her stomach, which had a bump beginning to form. It wasn't very noticeable and most people wouldn't see it at all. It was only because Seth knew every inch of her body as well as his own, and knew she was pregnant that he could tell. But there was a definite bump, smooth and hard, sticking out just a tinsy, tiny bit from her normally flat stomach.

He was gently stoking her stomach without notice, until she stopped him.

"Cohen, I know I'm fat already. Stop making it so obvious."

"What?" said Seth, stumped.

"Stop rubbing it in. I know that I'm already huge, and I don't need you stroking my fat. It's embarrassing."

Seth started to laugh, out of complete shock that Summer felt that way, but it probably didn't help.

"Baby, there's no way in the world that you're fat. You're barely showing at all, and your tiny, tiny, tiny bump isn't fat, it's a baby. Do you know how precious that is?"

"It doesn't stop the fact that soon I'm going to be so enormous that I won't even be able to see my own toes."

"You're keeping a human being alive, and if that means eating more than you normally do and gaining a little weight, so be it. It'll be so worth it."

"Even if I can't see my own toes?"

"Especially if you can't see your own toes."

"But I feel so huge. I mean, what if you don't find me attractive when I gain even more weight?"

"Sweetie, even if you weighed 7 million pounds I would still find you attractive. Because that's what you are."

Overcome with emotion – her hormones not helping – Summer threw herself back at Seth, and things were quickly heating up until she looked at the clock.

"Shit, I forgot. Your mum called yesterday and invited us over for breakfast. We're supposed to be there in… five minutes."

"Shit."

Summer got up and rushed to the shower. Seth was left in the bed alone, all hot and bothered. He was going to have to wait until the afternoon before Summer satisfied his needs.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

They got to the senior Cohen's house only half an hour late. That was pretty good for them. In the car they had decided to tell Sandy and Kirsten everything. No use keeping it all hidden when Summer just wanted to share the news with everyone.

They didn't bother ringing the doorbell, just walked in and called out,

"We're here! Sorry we're late."

They walked, holding hands, through to the table beside the pool and were greeted by the sight of Sandy, Kirsten, Ryan, Marissa, and Nina, Marissa's friends baby that she was looking after for a while. Nina was adorable and thirteen months old. She had curly blonde hair and was constantly smiling,

"Finally," said Ryan, "what were you doing that kept you so long?"

He was smirking as he said it, knowing exactly what they were doing.

"Just slept in I guess," they said, almost in unison, which caused them to smile at each other. Kirsten saw this small display, and was amazed at how lovingly they looked at each other, as if they were the only two people in the world.

Summer was feeling clucky, and reached over to grab Nina. She had known her since she was a newborn, since the mum was very unstable and Marissa was constantly taking her while she got back on her feet.

She started bouncing Nina on her knee, as Seth watched on, noticing how good a mum Summ was going to be. She was just a natural with babies.

If anyone had said that to him when they were in high school, he would have laughed in their faces. Summer was completely selfish; beautiful, but selfish. But she'd changed so much. She was unrecognisable from her high school years. Now, holding Nina, she looked like she was born to be a mum.

"Seth, how was your trip?" Sandy wouldn't admit it, but he really missed having Seth around for the weekly dinner.

"It was great. Amazing."

"Well that's great sweetie," Kirsten joined in, "I knew you were going to have a good time. Now let's eat."

They had a beautiful family breakfast, and Seth and Summer held hands under the table the whole time. They kept looking at each other and smiling, which everyone else at the table couldn't help but notice.

"So everything's great with you guys, is it?" Marissa was smiling at them, knowing why everything was so great but not wanting to mention in front of Sandy and Kirsten, because that would just be weird.

"The best ever," said Summer.

"And any particular reason?"

"Not really. I mean, I just really, really missed Seth and finally got to see him last night!"

"If anyone had ever told me Summer Roberts would be gushing about how much she missed a boy, in particular a boy like Seth Cohen, I would've laughed in their faces."

"Well, I guess no one really knows what it feels like to fall in love until it happens. Then they'd never want to leave their partner behind. Then they'd know what it feels like to be away from someone for a month and they too would want to spend every waking moment with the person they love. I mean, believe me, Cohen can get annoying and I can hate him, but I never ever want to be apart from him. Even when I hate him more than anything else I need to be in the same room because I miss him if he leaves."

"Well thanks sweetie. I think." Seth squeezed Summer's hand and they had a moment, just a moment, where they forgot everyone else and were just staring in each other's eyes. Then reality came back to them and they remembered they had something to share.

"Actually, we have some news."

"Ooh, exciting I hope. Things have been getting pretty boring around here," Sandy joked, as there was no such thing as boring in Newport. Just yesterday Julie had announced she was moving house again, because her current McMansion 'didn't have the right feel'.

"Definitely exciting news." Summer looked at Seth, making sure he was OK with her telling everyone. He gave her an encouraging nod, so she continued, "I found something out when Seth was in New York, something that is going to change our lives."

"What is it Summ?"

At the same time, Summer and Seth looked at each other and grinned.

"We're having a baby!"


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or original concepts of the OC, but the plot is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews! I hope people will continue to review because it makes me feel so much better and really will give me motivation to continue. The more reviews I get, the faster I update!**

**Merry Chrismukkah everyone and hopefully I'll have another chapter in about the next week (but sooner if you review heaps!)**

**CHAPTER 3: MIXED REACTIONS WITH TEARS FOR GOOD MEASURE**

Their reactions didn't disappoint. Sandy dropped his cutlery and his mouth flew open.

Kirsten jumped out of her chair and rushed over to give Summer the biggest hug she'd ever given.

Marissa said, "Summ, I can't believe you didn't tell me first!"

Even Nina started gurgling, for reasons unknown.

The only person who didn't do anything was Ryan. He just sat back in his chair and smiled.

"I'm going to be a grandma? That's fantastic. Congratulations, you guys!"

"Wow, Grandma and Grandpa Cohen, can we handle it?"

Sandy gave Kirsten a quick kiss. They'd been wondering when this day was coming. She knew Seth and Summer were perfect parent material, and money wasn't a problem for them, they knew it was only a matter of time.

They didn't know that they'd been trying unsuccessfully for almost a year, and were slowly losing hope that they would ever become parents, which made it even more exciting for them.

"Summ, I'm so happy for you! You're going to be the best mum ever." As a second thought, Marissa added, "And you too Seth. I mean dad, not mum. As long as you don't introduce them to comics!"

Ryan didn't say a lot, but when they were cleaning up from breakfast and he had a minute alone with Seth, he said,

"Wow, congratulations man. I was wondering when it was going to happen."

"Must be pretty close with you and Marissa as well, hey?"

"I'm not sure. I thought we were going to give it a go, but we have Nina so much she's like our baby anyway."

"What about marriage?"

"Marissa doesn't seem so keen. You know, I think we're going perfectly, and then something happens and it makes me question if we can handle marriage and kids. But one day, I'm sure."

Marissa and Summer were having a similar conversation in the kitchen.

"I'm so jealous of you; you get to do all the baby shopping!"

"I know. I'm so excited! This is going to be the most stylish baby that's ever walked the earth. Now you need to have a baby at the same time and they can be like sisters. Or brothers."

"Yeah, except Seth actually looks excited to be a dad. His smile was even bigger than yours was, if that was possible. I don't think Ry wants to do the kids thing."

"Just talk to him, I'm sure it's just miscommunication." Summer was still so happy that she was only seeing the bright side of everything. No more rage blackouts for Summer.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Later that night, Seth and Summer were lying snuggled up on their couch and watching a movie. Seth's hand was resting on Summer's stomach, and her head was resting on his lap.

Suddenly, Summer said, "Do you know how Atwood feels about kids?"

"Yeah, he wants one but thinks Marissa doesn't."

"Really? Coop thinks Atwood doesn't want one. And since they're both too scared to bring it up, they'll never know!"

"I'm glad we're not like that. I always know what you're thinking. Even if you don't tell me."

"Oh yeah? What am I thinking right now?"

"That you're the luckiest girl in the world for having such a fantastic husband. And you're probably thinking of all the clothes you can buy for baby Cohen."

She slapped him lightly, but knew he was telling the truth. They started kissing again, getting deeper with every second. They were about to head up to the bedroom when Summer remembered something very important that would change their lives.

"Cohen, I've been thinking. I think we should give New York a go."

"You do? That's great. I'll let the boss know straight away."

"When will we have to leave?"

"Probably about a month or so, so everything's settled in before the baby comes."

"I can't believe I'm actually leaving Newport Beach. I thought I'd spend my whole life here."

"But Summ, I'd never let you do that, because you're just too special to become yet another Newpsie. The only way to help you escape that is moving far, far away,"

"What's wrong with being a Newpsie?"

"Exactly. Listen to what you're saying. We definitely need to get you out of here."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The next week was spent by Summer and Seth on a quick holiday in New York. They had to find a house that they could set up in and raise a family. After spending three unsuccessful days going from one house to another, they laid eyes on _the one. _It was two storeys and had four bedrooms. They were using the extra payout from the company to buy a nice house where they could set up in, not just one that would do for the time being.

The living room was pretty big, and there was a spacious deck out to one side. There was enough room in the backyard for a swing set next to the pool. It was perfect, and reminded them of the McMansions that were everywhere in Newport.

They flew back to Newport and started the frenzied rush of packing up the entire house. On top of all their furniture and clothes, Seth had chosen to keep nearly all of his comic books and reports from high school.

After a lot of fighting, Seth agreed to leave all that stuff at Sandy and Kirsten's house, but absolutely refused to throw any of it away.

Packing was really taking it out on Summer and Seth, and all they did for that month of getting ready was fight. One particular morning was spent shouting and crying, and Summer being pregnant didn't help things at all. Of course they always bickered and fought, it just wouldn't be Summereth without fighting. But things were getting worse, and their fights were lasting longer and weren't in good fun like they normally were.

"Cohen, come and lift up this dresser mirror, I need to get it ready for the truck."

"Why don't you do it? I'm busy right now."

"Well would you like me to risk hurting the baby by lifting something that's too heavy and causing strain on my stomach and back?"

"Summer, it's a mirror, I'm sure that that's not going to happen."

"Then why don't you just do it? You're the man, or you say you are. The men are supposed to do all the heavy lifting."

"Well I'm not your typical man. I thought you knew that when we got married and I helped pick out the flowers. I thought that was _why _you married me; because I wasn't like every other guy."

"Well maybe I shouldn't have bothered!"

"Summ, you don't mean that."

"Of course I do, imagine if Zach was here right now, he would help."

"Oh wow, that's real mature Summ. Bring in the ex-boyfriend factor. I thought you were past all that."

"Well, Cohen, I thought you were above ignoring your wife and deliberately putting the life of your unborn child at risk. Obviously I was wrong."

"And you're sure you're not overreacting there Summ?"

"Of course I'm not overreacting, jerk." She slapped his arm and looked at him with such contempt.

"I can't believe you Seth. I'm going to the bedroom. If you think you can be mature, you can join me."

"ME the one who needs to be mature?! Grow up Summer. And don't call me Seth, it's disturbing. I've always been Cohen to you."

"Well maybe I don't want you to be my Cohen anymore. The truck is coming first thing tomorrow morning; you should probably get moving." She walked up the stairs and slammed the door.

About twenty minutes later the door opened again and Seth was ready to see a remorseful Summer standing at the top of the stairs. He was wrong. She threw a pile of clothes down the stairs and yelled out,

"And I'm not packing your clothes, ass. Pack them yourself!"

"GROW UP SUMMER," he yelled back, fed up with the constant arguments. It seems that it was all they did since they decided to move to New York was fight. They were supposed to be brilliantly happy, with them having a baby and everything. But it was almost the opposite. They were stressed about becoming parents and moving into a brand new life, and were taking it out on each other.

Seth's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of Summer running into the bathroom and throwing up. As angry as he was, it wasn't in his nature to leave Summer alone when she was struggling. Even though they were fighting and he might not _like _her very much at the moment, but he still _loved _her more than life itself.

He rushed upstairs and went to hold her hair back.

"Seth, go away! I don't need you to be here." Summer immediately regretted saying the words, but was too stubborn and proud to give in so easily. Even if she couldn't remember what they were fighting about. They were still fighting.

"Summer, stop being so stubborn." She leant over the bowl and went to throw up again. Seth knew the drill; he gently pulled her hair back and rested his free hand on her lower back. She was getting pretty bad morning sickness, at all hours of the day, and it was the least Seth could do to help.

When everything was over, Summer said, "Thanks Cohen."

Seth noted that she was back to saying Cohen.

"Summ, you know I'd never leave you by yourself to do anything you wouldn't want to do."

"But we're still fighting. I haven't forgiven you yet."

"Forgiven me for what? What have I even done?"

"I can't remember. But I'm pretty sure it was serious. And I don't get over things easily."

"Do you really want to be fighting non-stop, all the time?"

"No," Summer had to agree. What was the point in them fighting all the time when it didn't even have a reason?

"Summer, I know that things have been really hard lately, but we have _got _to stop fighting all the time. Is it really the best environment to raise a baby? Fighting non-stop? I mean, what's even the point?"

"I don't know. It's just, we fight like usual. But I'm not willing to let anything go. I have to win everything. And everything that happens seems to annoy me more than ever."

"Have I really been more annoying than usual?"

"Well Cohen, you're always pretty annoying. I think it's just that we haven't really had much time to relax. And maybe I'm not being the most rational person right now."

"Really Summer? I would never have guessed." She laughed and he pulled her close to him. Together they cuddled up, still on the bathroom floor. Seth was supporting Summer's weight as she leaned in comfortably against his chest. She tilted her head up and leaned in for a kiss.

"Summer, as much as I love you, I'm not going to kiss you. Two minutes ago you were emptying your stomach into the toilet. And I don't think even I love you enough to put myself through that."

She got up and cleaned her teeth, and then helped Seth up off the ground. Here she kissed him, letting out he built up emotions from the past weeks. Seth breathed in her fresh, minty smell and wrapped his arms around her, making sure she couldn't pull away, even if she wanted to. It was probably the moment they best remembered as deciding to embrace the move and change their attitude towards everything. No more fighting for Summer and Seth. None at all.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or original concepts of the OC, but the plot is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks again for the reviews and I hope everyone had a great Christmas. As promised, here is another chapter, and I hope everyone enjoys. **

**Remember, the more reviews I get, the faster I will update, and I have already written the next chapter, so please please please review and I'll update really soon!**

**Enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 4: A FAREWELL FOR THE AGES**

Summer and Seth moved into the bedroom and snuggled up on the bed. They turned the TV on and sat in their near empty room.

"Hey Cohen? Do you want a boy or a girl?"

"I don't know; tough decision. Some days I think I'd love nothing more than having a boy who I can play playstation with and read comic books to. But then I think how great it would be having a little girl who I can spoil all the time and who can be my little princess."

"I know; it's so tough. I think either way they're going to be the cutest baby in the whole, entire world."

"Tell me about it. With our genes, they're bound to be."

"Cohen, I think you mean my genes. Cos as much as I love you, I don't want my baby girl looking like you."

"Sweetie, you know you can't get enough of me."

Pretending to think about what he just said, Summer agreed. "I guess. If our baby looks anything like you, I'll be happy."

"But I'll be happier if she looks like you."

They sat together in comfortable silence. Eventually though, Summer said,

"Cohen, we better get moving. We have to have everything completely ready when the trucks come tomorrow morning." She started to move off the bed, but Seth put his arm around her in a protective gesture and pulled her back in.

"You're not getting away that easily." She made a feeble move to move away but sank back into his arms and smiled. She didn't really want to get up anyway.

"If we're not ready to leave in the morning, I'm going to be blaming you."

"I think I can probably handle that."

They didn't move for hours, until Summer suddenly had a craving for a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Since almost all the food in their house had been given away, Seth had to go to his parents' house and make one. He walked in and saw that preparations for their going away party were in full swing.

"Hey mom, hey dad. Don't mind me; I just need to make a sandwich for Summer and we don't have any food left in the house."

He didn't stay long; he could see that things were pretty hectic and needed to get back to Summer to help with the last minute packing. When he got back home, he saw that Summer had almost finished packing their clothes into boxes, leaving only a few outfits in a suitcase for them to take on the flight, with the rest of them to be taken on the trucks.

Seth thought it would probably be easier for Summer to fly instead of spending days in a car.

"Hey baby, here's your sandwich."

"Thanks Cohen, but I don't really want a sandwich anymore. I feel like pancakes."

"Are you sure you'll still want pancakes when I get back?"

"I'm absolutely sure I'll want them when you get back."

"Fine." Seth went back to the car and drove to the pier, where he bought a short stack and rushed back to the house.

Summer had continued to pack, and everything was almost done. That meant they could enjoy themselves at the party without worrying about having to get home in time to finish.

"Thanks sweetie, I really, really, really feel like pancakes now." She went over and kissed him, but grabbed the stack away before Seth could steal a mouthful. She was hungry and he wasn't getting any.

She ate them up quickly and sat over on Seth's lap. Seth put his hand on Summer's stomach, which was now showing a noticeable bump. She was four months along now, and her body was changing everyday. Summer was growing to love her baby bump and was excited about seeing the changes.

"We better get moving if we're going to make it to the party."

Summer snuggled down further into Seth's body and closed her eyes.

"I just want to stay here forever."

"Mmmm. Me too." He started stroking her hair. "But I think it might be rude of us to not turn up to our own going away party."

"Cohen, why did we stop doing this? Just sitting together and talking. I can't even remember the last time we did this."

"Not since we decided to move to New York. I guess we've just been too busy and we've been fighting too much."

"Yeah, we've got to stop fighting."

"Unless we get so angry we rip each others clothes off, like that time in high school. If you remember."

"I do, that was fun. But not as fun as sitting here with you."

"I know. I love sitting with you." He pulled her hair back away from her face and started kissing her forehead. She turned her body around so she was straddling him and moved her head so he was kissing her lips.

She moved her hands behind his head and started running her fingers through his hair. He shifted so he could recline and leant the chair back. He ran his hands down her body, and rested them on her stomach.

He stopped the kiss, and looked at her.

"I think we should make a pact to never get too busy to do this." He kissed her again, but she pulled away.

"And to never, ever get too stressed that all we do is fight. Cos I hate fighting."

"Me too." He ran his hands up her legs, and hitched up her skirt. He began to remove her top, expertly through all the practice, and was halfway through undoing her red bra when they were interrupted by the phone. It was Sandy.

"Hey Seth. You know the party's starting, and people are wondering where the guests of honour are."

"Shit. Sorry dad; we just got a bit distracted, having a moment and everything."

"I can only imagine."

"You tell those botoxed Newpsies to stop trying to move their muscles into a confused face; me and Summer will be there as soon as we can."

Then, turning to Summer, he said,

"Sorry baby, we have to go to the party. You' know it would be absolutely horrible to ditch our very own party."

"Fine," sounding defeated, Summer lifted herself out of Seth's embrace and said, "But we're definitely continuing this when we get back."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The party was in full swing by the time the junior Cohens arrived. Several surgerised wives and their bored looking husbands came to greet them and say how much they'd be missed. Summer and Seth were incredibly polite and promised to keep in touch, secretly glad they wouldn't have to see them again. Sometimes, Newpsie attention was just too much to bear.

Finally, after what seemed like hours of greeting, Seth stole Summer away from Tarryn and Diana Kahn to get a dance in. He loved their dancing. Unlike conventional dancing, it was more like hugging and swaying to the music. Their bodies were the perfect height difference for Summer to be able to rest her head under Seth's chin and wrap her arms around Seth's neck, enjoying how intimate it was just swaying. Seth was able to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her as close as he wanted, and they were able to forget everyone else; it was just them, alone in a room, whenever they were dancing.

This is what happened; they were off in their own little world, quietly swaying and kissing every now and then. They didn't even notice that everyone else was watching them.

"I remember when my third husband used to look at me like that, before he started screwing his secretary."

"Summ should enjoy this while she can. Pretty soon she'll have the baby and Seth will lose interest."

"But they are just adorable aren't they? I wish Harry would treat me like that."

"Maybe he would if you looked like Summer."

"They're really off in their own little world aren't they? Would they even notice if I took a photo?"

Kirsten did, and marvelled at her own photographic ability. She caught the perfect moment.

Summer was looking up at Seth with adoration, smiling as Seth was leaning in for a kiss. They were almost as close as was physically possible, and their love was just so apparent. Kirsten decided to frame it; it was too good a photo to leave on a memory card that would eventually get thrown out.

Close to midnight, only the serious party goers remained. Most guests had made their feeble excuses and left after making an appearance, not really caring that Summer and Seth were leaving because they so rarely saw them anyway.

Only Marissa, Ryan, Sandy, Kirsten, Neil, Julie and Jimmy remained.

After many tears and farewells, it was time for Summer and Seth to leave.

Another round of hugs followed, and Seth said,

"Thanks so much for coming guys, and putting the night on, it was amazing."

"I'm gonna miss you Seth,"

"You too dad. Everyone. But don't worry, we'll call all the time and visit as soon as this one-" stroking Summer's stomach "-is old enough to travel."

"Bye." As they were getting into the car, everyone waved their last goodbyes and they drove away. Inside the car, Summer said,

"I can't believe I just said goodbye to everyone I've ever been close to. We're going to have to start fresh aren't we?"

"Yeah." Reflecting on the nature of the night they just had. He was being nostalgic. For the first sixteen years of his life he had wanted to leave Newport and now it was actually happening. And he still couldn't believe it was happening with Summer Roberts. The girl he had dreamed about since he was old enough to walk, practically. And she loved him. And they were more happily married than anyone he knew, except maybe his parents. But they were definitely on par with his parents. And they were having a baby together. And she was moving across the country just so she could be with him as much as possible. He didn't want anything to change what he'd worked so hard for, and to mess up what he had with Summer.

His biggest wish was that New York would make them stronger, not tear them apart.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or original concepts of the OC, but the plot is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks for everyone's reviews! They made me post this chapter earlier than I intended, so that's proof that the more reviews I get, the quicker I will update. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and reviews of course, and I hope everyone has a great New Year!**

**CHAPTER 5: HOPES, FEARS and EXPECTATIONS**

Before Seth knew it, they were in New York and everything was unpacked and liveable. He couldn't believe that five weeks had already passed since that fateful day when they boarded the plane and stepped into the unknown and away from everything that had ever felt comfortable or familiar.

It was the first time either of them had moved into a house without the help of his parents and the first time either of them had been on their own, without a support network in case something bad happened. And neither of them were really handling it well.

Even though they had promised they would quit the fighting, it wasn't so easy when Summer was hormonal and temperamental, and Seth was stressed out about having to start at a new workplace. Both of them were busy trying to make the house really beautiful and they didn't really have much time to just spend with each other.

When they were with each other they were always bickering, and it was making it harder on both of them to fit into a new city.

"Cohen you're going to be late. And stop leaving your cup on the table, it's new."

"I don't really care about the table Summ. And no one will care if I'm ten minutes late to work, no one else even gets there til ten."

"I hate you right now Cohen."

"What do you hate about me? What have I even done to you that makes me such a horrible person?"

"You always leave your clothes lying around in our nice new house I'm trying to keep clean."

"I know you love my clothes; you're always wearing them. If that's the most annoying thing you can think of, you can't hate me that much."

"No. You always, always, _always _think you're right. And you hardly ever are."

"Name one example." He wasn't really in the mood for fighting and really was running late for work. "Actually, on that note, I have to leave now. You wouldn't want me running late for work now would you? But you just think about everything I've ever done to wrong you and how much better off you'd be if I never came into your pampered little life."

"Maybe I will."

"Fine." He grabbed his suitcase and an apple and headed out the door.

"Don't come back!"

"Of course I'll be back Summ, you can't get enough of me. But if you keep on saying that, I might actually be forced to leave, and I know how much you'd hate that."

He left the house in a bad mood and stormed around work when he got there. His colleagues were too scared to talk to him and he got through hardly any work at all because he just wasn't in the right mood.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Back at the house, Summer had a bit of a cry before getting on with the housework. As she walked up the stairs she looked up at the photos that lined the walls; sort of a timeline of their relationship, starting from the bottom and going up.

Although they were a couple pretty much through high school, it mainly focused on their post-school life.

The first photo was their high school graduation. Summer had thrown herself into Seth's arms and her legs were off the ground. They were both smiling and Seth was kissing her cheek.

It was the moment they left the security of schooling and ventured out into the world on their own. From that moment on, they were completely independent and formed their own little family by doing everything together and becoming fully committed to each other.

The second photo was of them on their engagement party. It was a pool party and they were both in just their bikinis/board shorts. They were toasting each other and once again smiling, as if they were the only two people in the world. It was the first time they had shown to the world just how serious they were, and was one of the best moments of their lives. The party was great, and no one seemed to look down on them for being so young. They _were _only twenty two at that time. She still remembered that day as if it was yesterday.

_Seth grabbed two more cocktails and walked over to his bride to be. She kissed him on the cheek and had a big mouthful of her new drink. They were getting pretty tipsy, but so was everyone and it was a day to celebrate. In eight months they were going to be married._

_Seth wrapped his arm protectively around Summer's tanned, toned waist and pulled her in close to him. She looked lovingly into his eyes, and made the split second decision to go for a swim._

_"Cohen, I'm going for a swim."_

_"Baby, you can't go. What am I going to do without you?"_

_"I don't know. Do what you do best. Talk. There are heaps of people here just waiting to see you; why don't you go make the rounds."_

_"Because all I want to do is talk to you."_

_"Sweetie, we're getting married. There will be plenty of time to talk later."_

_"Isn't it gonna be so great? I can spend the rest of my life talking to you."_

_"Cohen, we've lived together for two years, and we talk all the time." _

_"But I want to spend _even _more time with you, talking." _

_She lightly traced circles on his chest with her fingertips and said softly, "I bet that's not all you want to do more of with me." _

_He was sprung. Of course he wanted to spend more _time_ with her; she was the hottest girl on the planet and soon was going to be all his. Of course, she was already his, and they're been dating on and off for about five years, but it was going to be official. Written in black and white. She was going to become Mrs Summer Cohen, and he was so excited that he could share his name with someone so perfect._

_Summer flounced off and jumped into the pool. Everyone around her kept talking and socialising, but she was happy to be in there by herself._

_It wasn't five minutes later when she heard a splash and saw Seth swimming towards her. _

_"You just couldn't keep away, could you?"_

_"Not even for five minutes." He swam towards her and swung her round, so she was sitting on his lap in the middle of the pool._

_"You know my raging hormones don't allow me to spend too much time without you."_

_"What happened to making the rounds? Talking to everyone?"_

_"Well, the only people worth talking to are Ryan and Marissa. And they've gone off to the pool house doing god knows what, and my parents are busy talking to the Newpsies."_

_"Why didn't you go and talk to the Newpsies too?"_

_"Because the Newpsies are the most boring, vile creatures on the planet and they can't even show any emotion on their disgusting plastic faces when I indulge them with my witty little anecdotes."_

_"But I thought you had really taken a warming to Tarryn."_

_"That was before she married that guy a year above us from Harbor. Anyway, why are you so anxious to get rid of me? If you want me to leave just say so."_

_She quickly kissed him and said,_

_"I'm so so so so happy that you're here and don't ever ever leave me ever again. Is that better?"_

_"Much."_

_They continued kissing until Ryan and Marissa joined them in the pool and the couples competed in a gladiator game, very much like the one they played after their high school graduation. _

That day was so much fun and was really the perfect engagement party.

The third photo was the good old posed wedding photo, with their bridal party and parents standing on. It was a truly beautiful photo, but just seemed so posed and unnatural. So right next to that photo, was Summer's favourite wedding photo. It was when they were cutting the cake, and Summer was trying to smear cake on Seth's face. Seth was trying to pull her close to him and Summer was mock protesting. It was such a cute photo and even though it wasn't a very conventional type of wedding photo to have up on a wall, it was never getting moved. Summer and Seth weren't conventional but they were the greatest.

The next photo was of Newport Beach, the place where so many of their favourite times took place. It was where Seth first worked up the courage to talk to her, where he proposed to her, where they got married and their reception took place, where they got back together after a whole month of being broken up (one particularly bad time in college), and most likely where their baby was conceived. The photo just showed a wide shot of the beach at sunset and also contained the lifeguard stand which was important for the whole core four and needed to be remembered.

The last photo was the photo Kirsten took on their farewell party. The one where they were dancing and smiling. It was the last photo that would remind them of their life in Newport.

As Summer looked over all their happy, beautiful memories, she was overwhelmed with a rush of sadness. She couldn't remember the last time they had really just sat together and talked, or even danced. They always danced together because it was how Seth first wooed Summer and most of their happiest times involved them dancing together.

She decided to go visit him at his work. Making it a visit Seth wouldn't forget for a while, she styled her hair and put on her most flattering top which showed of her ever expanding baby bump without making her feel fat. She put on his favourite perfume and got into the car.

She was just so tired of the fighting, and realised there was no need for it at all. All she had to do was take the initiative and end it herself.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

At work, Seth was taking his hour long lunch break watching the TV in his office. He was watching a rerun of Grey's Anatomy, and there was a bit that was really getting to him.

A man was talking about his relationship with his girlfriend and said,

"You're either the ham or the eggs. The egg is involved in the meal, but the ham is committed. The meal isn't a meal without the ham.

Seth realised with a jolt that both him and Summer were being eggs, and someone needed to step up and be the ham. Seth was going to be the ham. No matter how ridiculous that sounded he was going to be the ham.

And he was going to drive home right that very second and tell her that.

He grabbed his keys and scrawled a dodgy message about a family emergency. Well it was, kind of. He couldn't really wait for night time to tell Summer that he was committed, he was the ham. He needed to go right now.

**A/N: Cliffhanger! Try and guess what's going to happen, I'd love to see all your different ideas and I might incorporate them into the story!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the plots, characters or original concepts of the OC. Anything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks for everyone's reviews. And thanks to everyone who guessed how it might have gone. As always, the more reviews I get the faster I'll update, and I'd love to hear any of your thoughts, good or bad.**

**Thanks and enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 6: A CLASHING OF APOLOGIES**

It's hard to stay in control when you've just made a decision that's going to change everything. A decision that should have been made a long time ago, if it should have ever had to be made at all.

I'm going to stop fighting with my wife; who should ever have to even make a decision like that in the first place? It was so obvious that it wouldn't normally be a problem.

But with such a stubborn and strong headed person like Seth Cohen, normal rules don't apply.

It would normally be a given; try your best to not fight with the person you married and keep your marriage together. I mean, it's not as if they hated each other, or worse, were just indifferent to each other and didn't care. They did care, and they did love each other, so fighting shouldn't be a problem.

Especially when they were about to become parents together, and embark on yet another crazy strange adventure that would be a wonderful time in both their lives.

So what was it that was making Seth fight with Summer, the person he loved more than life itself?

As he hastily reversed his car out of the staff car park and onto the busy road, he tried to think what had changed in the past few months that would make them fight more and longer.

The most obvious change was going to be moving to New York. The moving itself was stressful and hectic and a pretty busy time in general. But more than that, they had removed themselves entirely from their support network and moved to a city where the only people they knew were each other. And then they didn't really have anyone else they could talk to, or complain to, so any anger they were feeling was taken out on each other. Phone conversations just weren't the same as talking in person to get your feelings out in the open.

And of course, Summer was pregnant, and there were a lot of changes that came with that too. Not only was Summer hormonal, which made her more prone to rage blackouts, Summer and Seth had to worry about how their relationship would change once they had a baby of their own.

Would they still have time for each other?

Would the baby cause problems between them?

Were they ready for such a big commitment?

Would they be able to take care of a baby all on their own?

And Summer was probably worried about how attracted Seth would be to her once she became really pregnant and after the baby was born and she was carrying more weight than normal. But as Seth thought that, he knew how ridiculous it sounded, because he couldn't think of a way in the world where he would not be attracted to Summer. Every way he looked at it, he just adored her. Inside and out. And couldn't think of anything that could ever change that.

But they weren't talking about these feelings, about these doubts and insecurities, and that probably made everything a lot worse. Seth made a vow to himself that when he got home, he would tell Summer everything he had just been thinking and he would make sure that he would remember to always tell her what was going on in his mind. Because most likely she was thinking the same thing.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Summer was cruising along a road, probably speeding a little, thinking about the problems she and Seth were having. They weren't communicating, that was the real problem.

And she didn't mean talking about each others days as she lay all curled up in his lap and they watched Grey's Anatomy. She meant really talk, about how they were feeling.

First of all, Summer was terrified about becoming a mum. Every time she passed a harassed looking woman pushing a pram and carrying a hundred bags of diapers and dummies, she couldn't help but think of how she would be able to cope with all the extra stress of being a full-time parent.

Would she be another woman with bags under her eyes because she was unable to cope with the huge demand of being a mum? Would her and Seth's relationship crumble because both ignored each other and had no time for each other?

Thoughts like that practically consumed her through her daily life.

And she was the only one who knew about them, because she hadn't told anyone else. Especially not Seth. He worshipped her and she didn't want him to know she was terrified. He might think she was regretting it, which of course she wasn't.

She was so excited, but she was still terrified. Terrified about the enormous changes that were sure to happen, and terrified over what would happen with her and Seth. But she was still excited.

And obviously she was a mess, because she kept contradicting herself and was all over the place with her thoughts and wasn't making any sense.

Maybe if she talked everything through with Seth, things would make a little more sense.

Already she felt better. In a few minutes she would be telling Seth about everything going through her head and he would be able to comfort her and understand and everything would be great again.

Now the only question was why hadn't she thought of doing this earlier?

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Seth skidded his car into the garage and slammed the door. He ran into the house and called out Summer's name.

And got no response.

After he checked every room and still found no wife, he was completely confused. Only then did he realise her car wasn't in the garage. She was out.

Summer hadn't told him of any plans for the day, and had done the grocery shopping the day before. Her doctor's appointment wasn't until the following Thursday, and she'd recently been shopping for clothes (for both herself and the baby), and Seth couldn't see a reason she'd go again.

But then where would she be?

She didn't really know anyone else in New York, except for their neighbours Troy and Gabriella, and he knew they both worked 9 til 5.

Just as he was about to call her, his cell phone started vibrating and Summer's photo appeared, in all it's beaming glory.

Making the instantaneous decision to surprise her when she walked in the door, he decided to pretend he was still at the office.

Then, when she came home, he would be there with flowers and an apology to top all apologies he'd ever given.

He marvelled at his own creativity and genius, as he flipped open his phone and answered his beautiful wife.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Summer had seen the building where Seth worked, but never actually visited him. So when she walked into the posh looking lobby of the law firm Seth worked at, she was lost.

She walked over to the receptionist's desk and she kindly told Summer where to go.

Up one flight of stairs, turn right, down the corridor, turn left, third room on the left.

That wasn't so hard to remember.

But apparently these directions can easily get muddled up and it took Summer another five minutes to reach his room.

She hadn't even noticed the 'Seth Cohen' sign on the door, and had passed it three times.

And Seth wasn't even in his office.

Oh well, the receptionist hadn't said anything about him leaving, and no one had said anything when she walked into the office, so he would probably be back in a minute. He'd probably gone to the bathroom; for someone who drank so little he had to go to the bathroom a _lot. _

She'd just wait in his office.

She went and sat down in his desk chair and immediately thought, 'so this is what Cohen sees all day.' She put her feet up on his desk and then pretended to be writing something.

Then she stumbled across a note in Seth's scrawly writing.

_Family emergency in Newport._

_Urgent. Must leave._

_Sorry._

All at once every sense heightened; goose bumps appeared everywhere and the hair at the base of her neck stood out on end.

What emergency in Newport would be enough to tear him away from work? And why hadn't Seth told her, or anyone from Newport come to think of it? Why was she out of the loop?

Were they trying to protect her?

Her pulse was racing when she called Marissa's number in Newport. If there was an emergency, surely Coop would know about it.

When she answered, Summer didn't stop for small talk.

"What's happened? Is anyone hurt?"

"Summ, calm down. What are you talking about?"

"Seth said there was some kind of family emergency in Newport. Is it Ryan?"

"Everyone here's just fine. Ryan's down at the beach surfing with Sandy, and Kirsten's at a spa with my mum. Why don't you ask Seth what's going on."

"I just… it's just… he said there was something wrong." Her heartbeat started to slow, but she was still totally confused.

"Thanks Coop. Gotta go."

She stopped the call but immediately dialled Seth's number. If he said something was wrong, he was the one who would know about it.

He answered on the first ring, which surprised her; he normally took ages to figure out it was his phone that was ringing.

"Hey Summ. What's up?" From the tone of his voice, Summer could tell he was over the fight they had that morning, and was back to his normal Cohen-y self.

"Where are you?"

"Right now? I'm at the office just doing my work." Seth was so smug at how great his plan was. She would get home and he would be there waiting, and it would be so much better if she had no idea and it would be a surprise.

The blood drained from Summer's face as she listened to him lying. Why the hell was he lying about where he was? It could only mean one thing; he was doing something he shouldn't have been doing. Still, Summer decided to give him another chance.

"What's happening at the office today?"

"Mike and John are both away so it's flat out, and Rob came by right before you called with a conference call I have to take in ten minutes."

Was he too specific? He started thinking back to some of his worse lies, and all of them were way too specific. Would she see straight through it?

That was it; Summer had given him another chance to tell her where he really was but he didn't and now she knew for sure that he was doing something he should not be doing. Now the only question was what?

"And what are you doing Summ?" Seth still didn't know what she was doing that was keeping her away from home, and was getting more desperate by the second.

"Oh, I just popped out of the house for an hour to get some baby toys. This place was having a huge sale, and it was too good an opportunity to miss. So I'm just leaving now, shouldn't be too much longer. My feet are killing me."

"OK." That made sense now. Now all Seth had to do was wait until Summer came home and he would be able to smother her with apologies and kisses, the way he should have been doing for the last five weeks. And he made a mental note to give her a foot massage as well; the bigger Summer was getting the bigger problem her feet were becoming.

Then, when that was all done and things were great once again, he would tell her everything he was thinking and then they would have no reason to fight again.

Perfect plan.

"Alright Summ, I have to go, there's a heap of work to do, but I'll see you at home."

"OK, bye, love you."

"You too."

Summer was left even more confused than before she'd made the call.

There was no emergency in Newport, so Seth had lied to his work.

Then he had told her he was at the office, so he clearly lied to her as well.

And as much as Summer tried to push the thought from her mind, the same explanation kept popping up.

But Seth would never do that to her. He loved her. Unless… unless maybe he was freaking out about being a dad, and had only just realised he was stuck with one person for the rest of his life. Maybe he was having a crisis.

And Summer thought that the one thing she could count on was that Seth would never ever cheat on her because it wasn't like him at all.

And he was scared of what she could do to him.

But now he was busted. He had never been more busted in his life. Having a crisis was going to be the last thing on his mind when she was finished with him.

**A/N: So now I'm stuck for what's going to happen so if anyone has any ideas can you please let me know? It would be greatly appreciated!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, characters or concepts of The OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks everyone who reviewed, it's greatly appreciated. I'm a bit worried that the last chapter had the lowest number of hits and the lowest number of reviews. **

**But anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and please please please review!**

**CHAPTER 7: MISCOMMUNICATION**

Seth was getting worried. He was pretty sure that when she had called she said she was heading home. Allowing for traffic, the trip was about twenty minutes, max.

And it had been three hours, and she still wasn't home.

But he couldn't call and ask where she was because if he asked her why she wasn't home, it would make it pretty obvious that he was already at home, and the surprise would be spoiled.

Still, Seth couldn't take much more of this waiting game. He'd been listening to the radio for any accidents that may have been reported, but there was nothing. Just a missing Summer, with no explanation and no reason.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Summer had been sitting in Central Park for ages. She had been watching the people entering and leaving their brownstones, seen happy families taking picnics with their dogs and kites, and watched the general activity that seemed to always be around.

And she kept thinking of when she and Seth would have their own kids, and they would be the ones enjoying these great picnics, taking a look at the zoo and having a great time together. She could just imagine Seth trying to teach their son to throw a baseball, when really; he had no idea how to do it at all. But he would have to try and teach, because he wanted to do the whole fatherhood thing right. And one of the decisive traditions in American fatherhood is to teach your kid to play baseball.

But what if that whole great entire future she had painstakingly planned out in her head came to nothing, and Seth wasn't going to be around.

Still, no matter how many times she played through it in her head, she just couldn't imagine that Seth would ever cheat on her. He wasn't one of those guys. He was someone completely happy with his life, and you could tell every time he looked at her, or down at the baby growing inside her. The longer she sat at that bench in Central Park, the more she became sure that it was something else. And if he couldn't tell her, it had to be something big.

Maybe he was in the secret service, and his job at the law firm was just a cover up for where he really was. Uncovering terrorists and protecting his country. No, Seth was a sissy when it came to things like that, and he could never have a job that put him in danger.

Maybe she had got the wrong building after all and he was sitting somewhere in his office two buildings down and really was working like he said.

But she had sat at his desk and looked at the photo of herself. And the door most definitely said Seth Cohen and it was most definitely his writing on that note.

Maybe... Summer got sick of thinking of all the things that could be happening and decided to head on home. As well as tired, she was cold from sitting in the harsh wind for such a long time, was busting to go to the toilet and had a massive craving for spaghetti bolognaise. She got up from her seat and took one last look at all the families having such a great time. And she hoped to God that her family would be one of them.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

It was no use sitting around doing nothing. Seth might as well be doing something productive.

He would make dinner, that's what he'd do.

He'd picked up a few things over the years, and although he was man enough to admit he was no Gordon Ramsay, his cooking skills were pretty good and people had even been known to greatly enjoy his meals.

He'd been growing a quite extensive menu for a while, and was now able to cook meals from all different cuisines.

Tonight he was going to make spaghetti bolognaise. Something about crushing the garlic, frying the mince and adding tomatoes, onions and a bit of red wine was therapeutic.

And what he really needed now was a bit of therapy.

Better yet, he needed a good old chat with his brother; maybe that would make everything seem a little less crappy.

"Hey man. How's it going?"

"I'm going stir crazy man."

"How?"

"I talked to Summer and she said she'd be home soon. And it's been three hours."

"Then why don't you call her and ask where she is?"

"Because I'm not supposed to be home, and if I call her, she'll know that I know she's not at home, which will mean she knows that I am."

"Why are you not supposed to be at home?"

"I'm surprising her, so when she does get home, I'll be here with my big bunch of flowers."

"What did you do this time?"

"Why do you assume it's always my fault?"

"Cos you're the one that sounds guilty."

"Whatever. We've just been fighting. A lot. And I want it to end. I want it to end a month ago, but I'm not a scientist or a time traveller so I can't turn back time, so this is about the best that I can do."

In the background, Seth heard Marissa's voice, first way off in the distance, getting closer and closer. Then a 'give me the phone.' Finally, Seth heard the muffled sounds of the phone being moved.

"Seth?"

"Hey Marissa. This is a little weird."

"Whatever. Why did you tell Summ there was an emergency in Newport? Are you trying to scare her? Cos that's mean. You know she's pregnant."

"What are you talking about? I didn't say anything about an emergency."

"Well Summer called up a few hours ago. She was freaking out. Said something about there being an emergency in Newport. Said you told her."

"I don't know what she's talking about." Then; realisation. "Shit."

"What?"

"Nothing. I have to go."

He hastily hung up the phone as he fully realised what was happening. He had written that there was a family emergency on the note in his office. The only way Summer would know about it was if she was in the office. And when she called, and he said he was at the office, she was probably sitting there wondering why the hell he was lying.

And since he knew his wife so well, she would probably be freaking out right about now, going over all the possibilities of why he would be lying about his whereabouts.

Just as he was thinking about what he was going to say, he heard a car pull up in the driveway, and when he heard the garage door open, knew it was Summer.

When she opened the door, she stormed into the living room and dumped her handbag on the lounge. When she turned around and saw Seth standing in the doorway she jumped back in shock and almost fell over the back of the coffee table.

"God Cohen, ass. Why are you lurking. You almost gave me a heart attack." Then Summer remembered she was angry at him. "And where were you today. And don't give me that 'at the office' crap, because I know you're lying, I was there."

"Calm down Summ."

"No I won't calm down, jerk. Tell me where you were."

"I was at home, the entire time."

"What?"

"I was at home, waiting for you to come back."

"You were at home?"

"Yes, I was at home. I decided I needed to see you, so I left work and drove home. And I've been waiting for you ever since."

"So that letter?"

"Definitely no family emergency in Newport. It was more a family emergency right here."

"What do you mean?"

"I've been an ass, I can admit that. And I wanted to make things right. It was a dire, dire emergency." Seth saw Summer's expression start to soften, and knew he was heading in the right track. "Now the next question is why you were at my office."

"Believe it or not, pretty much the same thing. I was looking at the photos on the wall and decided I needed to see you."

With a soft whisper, barely loud enough fro Summer to hear, he responded, "Well I'm here now." With that he moved slowly closer to her and opened his arms, allowing her to nestle in closely.

If there's one thing in the world that has the power to make all possible problems seem to melt away, it's a hug. Especially a big bear hug, that envelops you; allowing you to feel completely safe and sheltered.

As Seth wrapped his arms around Summer, all the problems they'd been having just disappeared from her mind and she allowed herself to fully give in to the moment.

A few tears escaped her eyes as she rested her head on Seth's chest.

Right now, at this moment in time, Seth was going to be the strong one, and Summer was going to allow herself to let Seth take over, to be the one to hold her together and make everything OK. And that was absolutely fine with Seth.

"Summ, are you OK?"

"I'm good now. Everything's good now."

"I'm sorry for being such a jerk." He was still whispering, as if he was afraid that if he spoke in a normal voice, other people would hear and the whole thing would not be so intimate. "I'm sorry and it won't happen again. And I'm really sorry I've been taking my stress out on you. And I'm really sorry I yelled at you this morning. And I'm sorry I scared you when you called before. I didn't want to lie to you; I just wanted to surprise you. And I didn't want to scare you with the family emergency; I just needed an excuse to see you."

"I know."

The whole situation was so intimate and so incredibly special, that neither wanted it to end.

"And I'm sorry too Cohen; sorry for being such a bitch and sorry for my rage blackouts and sorry I overreacted."

"But everything's OK now."

He started kissing the top of her head, with slow, deliberate movements, so as not to wreck the incredibly quiet and romantic mood that had been created with their apology.

Unfortunately, Summer's bladder wrecked it anyway.

"Sorry Cohen. I have to go to the bathroom. And I can't hold it in any longer."

She reluctantly pulled away and ran off to relieve her discomfort. When she returned, Seth was spooning out the bolognaise.

"Oh my god Cohen. I can't believe you made bolognaise."

"Why?"

"Cos it was all I could think about the whole way home."

"I guess I know you pretty well then. Maybe we have a psychic connection."

Now things were back to the way they should be, and there were no bad feelings between them, the playful banter that had been absent for so long could resume.

"I didn't say I wanted bolognaise. Maybe I was thinking about how repulsed I was about it, and never wanted to smell another bolognaise sauce ever again."

"But I know you'd never think that because I've never known you to reject a homemade meal by me, ever."

"Maybe I was just trying not to hurt your feelings."

"The way I do with your pancakes?"

"You do not. You love my pancakes."

"Or I pretend that I do."

She walked back over to Seth and kissed him on the lips, with no hesitation. She had missed out on this for too long, and wasn't going to waste a second. Maybe in the morning they would have their big talk, about everything, but now they could just take comfort in each other. All she wanted right now was Seth. And the bolognaise.

"Sorry Cohen, but right now I love food more than you."

"Maybe we could resume this later."

"Only if you're a good boy."

"I'll be on my best behaviour."

But when dinner was finished, and Seth did all the dishes by himself, all they wanted to do was go to sleep.

It had been a big, exhausting day, and what Seth most wanted to do was just snuggle up to his wife in bed, and pretend that that made everything better.

**A/N: So everything's right between them, or is it? Let me know your thoughts. If you have any ideas for the story, let me know. Thanks! **


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the storylines, characters or original concepts of the OC. Everything else is all mine!!**

**A/N: So thanks to everyone who reviewed. I'm still a bit worried that there aren't as many reviews for the last 2 chapters, so if you're still reading can you let me know?**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**CHAPTER 8: A Very Important Conversation**

Summer woke up with Seth's arms and legs wrapped around her body. His hand was resting on her ever expanding bump and his breath was heating up her neck. She looked over at the clock and saw that they had both slept through the alarm.

"Cohen, wake up. We slept through the alarm again."

A groggy Seth awoke with a bunch of his hair falling down over his eyes. After a few seconds of confusing rambling, he said, "We didn't sleep through it, I turned it off."

"Why?"

"Cos I'm not going into work today. They think there's a family emergency so I'm taking the day off. If you're lucky, I'm gonna make it the week."

"But won't you lose your job?"

"No, they love me too much. And I have five weeks of paid leave."

"We'll need that when the baby comes."

"We need some time now. We need to talk."

"About what?"

"Everything."

Realising what he was saying was true, she agreed. "OK, but you need to call them up and let them know you're not coming in. Cos you need the job. And I'm not sleeping with you ever again if you don't."

"You drive a hard bargain. Fine. Give me the phone."

After making a truly dodgy excuse about having to fly out to Newport and help his dad recover from a life threatening surgery, he was off work for the next four days. With that and the weekend, they had almost a week together.

"Summ, I hope I don't burn in hell for this. I tried to leave Sandy out of this, but what other family emergency could there be?"

"Right. I'm sure that's the only excuse your boss would have believed."

"Exactly. He's pretty smart, for a partner."

He got back into bed and cuddled up to Summer, switching on the TV to catch a morning news. When it was over, Summer took the remote and muted the volume.

"Seth, I think we need to talk."

"I think we do."

Suddenly lost for words, they sat awkwardly in silence for what seemed like hours, until Seth couldn't take it anymore, and finally blurted out,

"Moving to New York has been really stressful."

"I know." Seth was inwardly cursing that he started this most important conversation with such a clumsy beginning.

"And I think we need a break from everything to relax and, you know, brighten things up."

"I definitely agree with you there."

"And I think we need to talk more. About what's on our minds."

"Only if you go first."

"Fine… I'm terrified about becoming a dad. We're only 26 years old; can we really look after a baby?"

"I keep thinking the same thing."

"I mean, it's a lot different to anything else we've ever done. And a baby is a lot more responsibility than probably… anything else in the entire world."

"I know."

"And if we stuff it up, there's going to be bigger consequences, bigger problems."

"I guess I've been thinking the same thing. Except the more I've been thinking about it, the more I know we can.

First of all we're awesome and any baby would be lucky to have us. It's not like we're irresponsible teenagers anymore. I mean, you are sometimes, but most of the time you're pretty good. When it's important, you generally step up to the plate."

"And secondly?"

"Secondly, we're still us. And I really think we can do it."

"Only if we keep talking, and stop fighting."

"And we can do that."

"We can."

"Then we'll be fine. See? Easy. Problem solved."

"And I guess, that's all I've been thinking about lately. And it's made me really stressed because I keep going over all these worst case scenarios in my head and imagining everything that's going wrong. And I barely take the time to think of the best case scenarios. But now that you know, and you seem to think we can do it, you normally have a pretty good idea of what's gonna happen. Now I said what's on my mind, it's your turn."

"Fine. I keep worrying about what's gonna happen after the baby comes, and it takes up all our time. I mean, will we have any time for each other?"

"I don't think I could stay away from you for long."

"Be serious. I listened to you. What if all our time's taken up and we don't have any moments to ourselves?"

"I _am _being serious. I would never let that happen because I couldn't and wouldn't be able to stay away from you. You're so beautiful that I can't even keep my hands to myself."

As if to prove his point, his hands started roaming over Summer's body, lingering over her sensitive spots. His attempts to lighten the mood were quickly stopped by Summer, who grabbed his hands firmly in hers and lifted them off her thighs.

"But that's the thing. What if I let myself go and become all saggy and wobbly and fat?"

"Like that'll matter. We'll have a baby as a result of those saggy bits and that'll make me happier than anything else could."

"But that doesn't change the fact that I'll be ugly."

"Are you listening to what I'm saying? You'll never be ugly. I don't actually think it would be humanly possible. And I don't care what you look like. That's not why I married you. It might have helped…"

"Shut up Cohen! I know you're not taking this seriously but I can't stop worrying! And you can say _now _that you don't care about what I look like. But that's nowhere near the same as when it actually happens."

"Summ, I've loved you since before I even hit puberty. And your looks had nothing to do with that. And of course I think you're gorgeous, and nothing will ever change that. And I can't wait to see how radiant you're going to look when you've got your own little baby as an accessory."

"Radiant. That's a big word Cohen."

"I know. But it's true. And if it really worries you that much, we'll go to the gym. Together. I've heard they have a pretty good day-care."

"But Cohen, you hate exercise. And anything that connects you with the outside world."

"So?"

"You'd actually do that for me?"

"Sure. I told you, I'd do anything for you. When are you going to start taking me seriously?"

"I am taking you seriously. I just needed to know for sure."

"Well I'm deadly serious."

She snuggled up closer to Seth and swung her legs round so she was basically sitting on his lap. After a quick appreciative kiss, she said,

"I love you so much Cohen."

Seth responded to her statement with a knowing, Cohen-y smirk.

"I know. And I love you too."

"Then that's all sorted." Never wanting to have a mushy conversation lasting longer than necessary, they quickly returned to the usual bickering, now feeling confident that things had changed for the better and they would never return to the fighting and ignoring that had taken place over the last month.

Several hours later, still lying in bed, Seth asked the inevitable question.

"Now what are we going to do for the rest of the week?"

"I have a few ideas. Shopping! Getting all the baby furniture, clothes for me, and who knows what else. And then we can paint the nursery, and then we can do more shopping."

"That sounds like fun, but…" trying to think of a way to tell Summer without hurting her feelings, "… I don't want to spend all my free time shopping. How about we go to Newport for the weekend."

"Are you serious?"

"I thought we've been through this. I'm always serious."

"Cos I miss Coop. And your parents. And even Atwood. Who would know you could miss someone that doesn't even speak."

"And I thought we could leave on Thursday and get back Sunday night, meaning we'd have two days here and four days there. How does that sound?"

"It sounds like you've been thinking of it for a while."

"I've been thinking about a trip to Newport for a bit. Not on these days specifically but… I thought it would be good to get away. Catch up."

"Well I love it. But until then, we can shop! New York has so many more shops than Newport. It's gonna be awesome!"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I don't want to go shopping on my time off. And I don't think baby Cohen needs any more clothes."

As if exactly on cue, Summer felt a big kick coming from inside her stomach. Obviously baby Cohen wasn't too happy about the idea that they already had enough clothes.

"Oh my god Cohen, did you feel that?"

"I did. Obviously our child has the same incredible fashion sense that you have. Does that mean we have to go baby shopping tomorrow? Can't we just pretend? It's not as if they'll remember the clothes they wear anyway."

With even more incredible timing, the baby kicked again, and Summer was left cradling her belly and imagining what was inside.

Boy or girl? Summer Roberts or Seth Cohen eyes? Comic book or fashion lover? Although that question already seemed to be answered, by baby Cohen anyway.

She felt Seth's hand join hers on her stomach. He was just as excited about the kicking and just as excited about everything to do with the baby.

She looked up at him and saw that his face was lit up in a wide smile as he looked down at the baby growing inside her.

She looked up into his eyes and smiled at him.

They sat there together, just smiling, until they realised the cliché-ness of the situation. Seth, never to pass up an opportunity to mock life in general, was quick to point out the Kodak moment.

"Cohen, do you realise we haven't gotten out of bed all day?"

"Except for the five times you've gone to the bathroom. And the trip to the kitchen where you bought back three blocks of chocolate."

"I was hungry."

"I get that. But not letting me eat any?"

"I needed to keep some for later."

"Well now I'm hungry. What do you say we go out for lunch?"

"It's 4 pm. That's not lunch time."

"Well nothing else we've done today has been conventional. Why should we break tradition? And if you're good, we'll go shopping afterwards."

"For baby stuff?"

"If that's what you want, and that's what baby Cohen wants, who am I to disagree?"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

When Summer and Seth returned home that night, they were hundreds of dollars lighter and ten bags heavier.

"I don't think this baby will need anything else until they turn eighteen."

"But we needed to get that last outfit. Come on, it was so cute!"

"And pink. What if we have a boy? I'm not dressing my son in pink."

"Then we can keep it for when we have a girl."

"I don't know if I can handle having more than one kid with you if we have to go shopping this much."

"But I love it." Summer walked up behind Seth and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Thankyou so much Cohen for going shopping with me. I had sooooo much fun."

He turned around so they were now face to face. "You're welcome baby." He lightly kissed her nose before moving his attention to her lips, brushing his nose against hers in the process.

"Cohen, since you're in such a good mood, I have something to tell you."

"Do I really want to know?"

"I signed you up for an antenatal class with me… and its tomorrow."

"I thought we were just… doing… this… tomorrow." Between each word Seth was placing soft kisses down Summer's neck.

"But don't you want to go to a class with me and learn how to, you know, get ready for the baby?"

"And see those gross videos of an actual birth?"

"You'll get to see how you can help me." Summer was employing her whiney, 'I want something' voice that was so good at making Seth do whatever she wanted and go weak at the knees. Not that it was any question of if he was going to go; of course he wanted to do everything he could to be a part of it, but he loved seeing her squirm.

"Oh, well if it's a question of helping you…" He started undoing her bra and nibbling teasingly at her ear. Then, while he was at that part of her body, whispered sweetly, "… you know I'll be there. Wouldn't miss it for the world."

"I know. Thanks sweetie."

"I thought you hated pet names."

"Well maybe the baby's turned me mushy. And maybe it's because I just realised how great you are. Baby."

"Well I love you too, princess."

They returned to the bedroom and watched a movie. They had five more full days together where they could pretty much ignore any problems, anything outside themselves and any distractions. On top of that, they got to go back to Newport, and although Summer wouldn't admit it, she missed it like crazy. She missed the warm weather, her family, her friends and her old life. As much as she loved the excitement and different atmosphere of New York, she still wanted to go home, even if it was only for a few days.

As she was drifting off in Seth's arms, all she could think about was how happy she was that she still had five more days of this. It was going to be perfect.

**A/N: Any ideas, let me know. Also, boy or girl? And baby names, I want any and all of your ideas, any at all!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters, plots or concepts of The OC. Anything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks for your reviews everyone! I hope you enjoy this chapter and please please review!**

**CHAPTER 9: Romeo and Juliet**

"Come on Seth, we're gonna be late!"

Summer and Seth, who had gotten distracted all morning, were now running very late to Summer's first antenatal class. And to make things worse, Seth wasn't really worrying about their lateness; he was more concerned with making sure he wasn't away from Summer for more than about a minute.

"Seth Ezekiel Cohen, get your hands off me right now or I won't ever sleep with you again."

"You couldn't do that."

"I can and I will. If you don't hurry up!"

"I thought you would take it as a compliment. You're so damn hot that I don't want to be away from you. Ever."

"Well I'll take it as a compliment later. Right now we have to go. Or do you want our baby ending up malformed because we don't know what to do when it comes out."

"OK, just stop trying to guilt me with the sick baby card. One of these days it's going to come true."

One more kiss later and they made it to the car. They rushed off down the street and sped towards the lesson. Luckily the instructor was late too so they didn't miss out on too much.

"OK ladies, I want you to sit down on the ground with your knees up and legs spread. Partners, I want you to sit behind your partner and support them."

Speaking in urgent whispers, Summer and Seth were having a desperate conversation as they were assuming their positions. "Cohen I feel like a zoo animal."

"You're the one who wanted to do this class."

"Well I didn't know I'd have to spread my legs in front of this many people."

"Get over it; other people are doing it too."

"You can talk; all you have to do is sit behind me."

"I'll spread my legs too then." And following up on his word, he stretched his legs far out on either side of Summer's body, making him look completely lanky and awkward. But it made Summer feel a little better.

Through the class, they struggled to contain their laughter as they learned the right breathing techniques, sitting position and whatever else there was to know about having a baby.

Every time the woman opposite them (the one who was a little on the heavy side and extremely red faced) practiced the breathing, Summer would have to pinch Seth's leg very hard to stop him bursting out laughing. They got many disgraced looks from other people taking the class, and even the teacher, who told them on more than one occasion to be quiet.

As they walked out of the room, Seth happily exclaimed, "That was the most fun we've had in ages!"

"But we were so rude. I mean, what about the woman next to us?"

"Serves her right."

"I don't think we'll be allowed back in the class."

"I don't want to go back anyway. I have so much more fun with just you. Anyway, how hard is it to breathe? In, out, in, out."

"But with technique."

"Oh well, we'll just watch YouTube like the rest of the world. It'll have some sort of coaching video on there, and that way, we can do it from the comfort of our own home." Then, dropping his voice to a whisper, "And then we can do whatever we want to and won't get any disapproving looks at all."

"Shut up Cohen. You have such a one track mind. I thought you would have grown out of that phase in high school."

"I'll only grow out of it if you stop looking so good."

"And to think, we have five more days where you can shower me with compliments. Staying home with you is a good way to boost my confidence."

And with a quick kiss and ass grab, Seth replied, "Anything I can do to help."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Two days later was their next doctor's appointment and ultrasound. They could learn the sex of the baby, and were undecided as to whether or not they should.

As always, they had completely opposite ideas on whether to find out or not, and neither would give in and listen to the others ideas. Summer was very for finding out, while Seth wanted to wait.

"Summ, you've never had to wait for anything in your life. Maybe you should try it some time."

"But how will we know what colour to paint the room if we don't know if we're having a boy or girl?"

"Yellow. Then it doesn't matter."

"And what about the name? If we don't know the sex, we can't pick a name, and then we'll have to rush when they're born. What if we rush too much picking the name, and then hate it?"

"We'll pick two names; a boy's name and a girl's name; then we cover both sides. Or, we just wait until they're born, and see what they look like." Summer had to agree with his logic, but wasn't willing to give in. she decided to employ her whiney voice because lately, it had been working so well on her husband.

"But I realllly want to know. I want to find out today. How about _I_ find out and don't tell you?"

"You know that'll never work, you wouldn't be able to keep it a secret and I wouldn't let you keep it. The only way I can't squeeze it out of you is if you don't know."

"Why don't you want to know?"

"Cos I think it's going to be such a fantastic surprise when it happens, and I want to have that surprise." Damn, Seth was rationalising everything and making it hard for Summer to win her case.

"But we'll still have that surprise, cos it'll be the first time we see our baby."

"Don't you want to wait so we'll get an even bigger surprise?"

"No! I want to find out now."

"Listen, how about I make you a deal. If we find out today, and that's a big _if, _then you have to do something for me."

"What? I'll do anything."

"You can't tell anyone else if it's a boy or girl, it'll have to be a surprise for everyone else. It'll be our secret. And we pick the name together. No stupid celebrityesque names and nothing too traditional and boring."

"Deal. So we get to know?"

"I guess if it means that much to you, we'll find out today."

"Thanks sweetie!" Summer flung herself into Seth's arms and started wildly kissing his face. "Now let's hurry up and go; we have to find out the sex of the baby."

Seth allowed himself to be dragged along by an eager Summer, laughing as she grabbed his arm and pulled him through the door, almost yanking his arm out of its socket. He didn't know whether giving in so easily was the right decision, but Summer's enthusiasm and sheer excitement was rubbing off on Seth, and now he too couldn't wait to find out the sex of the baby.

As great as it would have been to have it come as a surprise when the baby was born, it would also be brilliant to find out when they were sitting in that doctor's office. And if Summer was this excited at just the thought of finding out the sex, how excited was she going to be when she actually found out?

Seth had an idea that Summer really wanted a girl. Not that she wouldn't be happy with a boy, but she always browsed just that little bit longer over the pink clothes, spent just a little bit more time thinking of girls names and thought of their baby just a little bit more as an April than a Jake.

Seth wanted a girl too, a little girl that looked, talked and acted exactly like Summer. Someone he could play ridiculously girly games with and not feel ashamed because he was making his daughter happy. Someone he could spoil with everything she could possibly want, but not go over the top so she became a brat. Someone he could watch Summer come home with after a big shopping trip and see them laughing together and having a great time.

But then again, having a boy wouldn't be so bad either. He could teach him about comics and plastic horses, and mould a mini Seth instead of a mini Summer. Either way would be awesome.

As Summer was trying to hurry Seth to the car, she was thinking of the news they were about to hear. She still couldn't decide whether she wanted a boy or a girl. One memory that kept flooding back into her mind was when she was about to leave Newport for Italy with Zack. There was that little boy playing with his little plastic horse. She kept imagining that if they were to have a boy, he would be exactly like that. And she kept thinking how cute he would be, in his little Chuck Taylors with his wildly crazy curls and smirk, just like his daddy.

She changed her mind every day, but right now, with that memory in her head, she was leaning towards wanting a boy. The spitting image of his father, with the same sense of humour and fashion. But who wasn't necessarily as socially awkward as Seth was when she first started paying attention to him. Her son would have her sense of confidence, and her love of shopping. OK, so maybe that was too far, but she could still hope.

Either way would be great, but it was fun to imagine a different sort of situation every day, and be able to change your mind a thousand times a day.

When Seth wasn't going as fast as she wanted him to, she gave his arm an extra big tug and hurried him towards the car.

When they reached the doctors office, Seth had barely put the car in park before Summer's door was open and she was out of the car. Once again, Seth was left trying to catch up, but that was fine by him, because he loved seeing her so excited.

Of course she had been excited the whole way through her pregnancy so far, but today was a big day. She was finding out some very, very important information that was going to determine their future. She deserved to be as excited as was humanly possible, and who was Seth to stand in the way of her happiness?

After all the build up of rushing to the car, then the doctors, it was a severe anticlimax to reach the receptionist and find out their doctor was held up and they'd have to wait. Their adrenalin started to fizzle as they sat in the plain beige waiting room and read old celebrity gossip.

Finding out Paris Hilton was going to jail for the tenth time just wasn't as exciting when you were about to find out the most exciting news yet, that was actually relevant to your own life.

Finally, Dr. Pacey, looking very tired and flustered, walked into the waiting room.

"Summer, I'm so sorry I kept you waiting. Follow me."

They twisted their way through corridors until they reached Dr Pacey's office. It was a huge contrast from the beige waiting room, with bright turquoise walls and colourful photos of dozens of kids hung up haphazardly on the corkboard.

"OK Summer, if you could just lie down here on the chair and lift up your shirt. Seth, pull up a chair if you want."

Summer got up onto the bench, and suddenly overcome with a wave of shyness, reached out for Seth's hand. Seth was there waiting and together they prepared for some very exciting and important news.

Dr. Pacey got out her ultrasound wand and smeared the cold jelly on Summer's stomach. After a few seconds, the sound of a very fast heartbeat surrounded the room.

Summer clasped Seth's hand tightly and looked over at his face, expecting and seeing the wide beam of pure joy that so often covered his face when there was something to do with the baby. If he was this happy just hearing a heartbeat, imagine how happy he was going to be when the baby was actually born and he could see the face close up, not through an ultrasound.

"OK, Mr and Mrs Cohen, the heartbeat is very strong and healthy. Exactly how it should be for a baby this size."

"Hear that Summ? Strong heartbeat. That's great, isn't that great?"

"I can hear Cohen. But that is so great."

"And from the looks of things, everything seems to be developing well. The tests are all normal as well. Now do you want to find out the sex of the baby?"

Summer had one last look at Seth, making sure he was fine with it, and then nodded eagerly. "Definitely."

"Alright, just give me a minute. I'll just take some more photos and see if we can get a good picture here. Let's find out the sex of your baby."

**A/N: So far the race for boy or girl is very tight. So can everyone please put in whether you want the baby to be a boy or girl and whichever has more wins. Easy as that. So I'd recommend that if you want a say you review, because the sex of the baby is completely up to you.**

**Thanks!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters, plots or concepts of the OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Thankyou everyone for your reviews, I really enjoyed reading the boy/girl poll, and you have decided for me, which is great, cos it takes the pressure of me. So thanks!**

**I'm really really sorry about the long time between updates. I was at the coast, and left the day I posted and only just got back. I had no internet, or computer for that matter, but I was so determined that I wrote the chapter out by hand, then copied it as soon as I got home.**

**I apologise if there are any mistakes, I haven't really read over it very well.**

**Also, I haven't had any time to reply to reviews like I normally do. I know I usually reply before I update, but I've had no time, and I thought people would rather get a new chapter, so here it is. So if I don't get back to you for the last chapter, I really appreciated all the reviews and they made me so so happy, so thankyou so much everyone.**

**Sorry about the huge author's note, it won't happen again. Enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 10: BLAST FROM THE PAST**

Dr Pacey started gently moving the ultrasound wand around, pausing every so often to take a picture. As tie went on, Summer started getting anxious. In all the TV shows she watched, people found out almost straight away. Why was it taking so long?

Noticing Summer's obvious discomfort, Seth decided to step up and say,

"Dr Pacey, it's taking a while. Is everything OK?"

"Yes, everything's fine, but I'm having a hard time getting a good angle here. Your baby's legs are shut tight and don't seem to be budging."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm not sure I can tell you the sex of the baby, because I just can't get a good look."

"So we don't get to find out if it's a boy or girl?" Summer had really been looking forward to this moment, and it wasn't going according to plan.

"I'm afraid not. Maybe at your next scan in one month the baby will have shifted position enough to tell us more."

"Can't you have a look at their face and see if it's like dainty or manly or something?"

"Sorry Summer, it doesn't quite work that way. Our ultrasound equipment isn't that detailed or accurate, and newborn babies often look quite alike, regardless of their gender."

"So we have to wait?"

"It looks that way. Now I'll schedule you for another appointment in about a month and we'll have to see if we have better luck then."

"Thankyou." Summer and Seth left the doctors office hand in hand and were silent the whole way to the car. When they got inside, Seth didn't start the engine, and Summer made no attempt to hurry him up.

"I can't believe we have to wait a whole month."

"Do you think it's a sign?"

"What?"

"Like, we weren't agreeing on whether to find out the sex of the baby or not. Maybe it's a sign that we weren't supposed to know."

"You're just saying that because you didn't get your way."

"No I'm not. You got me pretty excited before, convincing me we should find out. I was almost as excited as you were. But maybe we're not supposed to. Maybe it's Jesus' or Moses' way of saying we should wait."

"I guess I see where you're coming from. But I really, really want to find out. How about we wait until next month? Then we can make a decision then." Summer wasn't willing to give up her wants quite so easily, and was secretly hoping Seth would cave in by the time the next appointment rolled around.

"But for now, to take your mind off things, we can go home and pack, cos I know how much enjoyment you get from that."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

The next few hours were spent busily packing and organising things before their flight to Newport later that afternoon. As usual, they had left everything until the last minute, and ended up running late. As was the normal way with everything as of late.

It wasn't really until they had passed security that it dawned on Summer what she was about to do. She was about to go back to her home of 26 years. Granted, she had only been away for a month and a half, but it felt like a lot longer. Maybe it was because now she was a lot bigger, and you can miss somewhere more if there was more of you to miss it with. Not that that made any sense.

Either way, she was looking forward to it. A lot.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"There they are! Hurry up Cohen!"

After four and a half hours of sitting down in a very small, uncomfortable chair, the last thing Seth wanted to do was run, but it seemed like Summer was that excited, she might just race away. She was surprisingly very sprightly and wiry for an almost six months pregnant woman. Seth had to almost physically restrain her to slow her down.

'Calm down Summ! They'll still be there in 30 seconds." He slung his arm casually around her waist. "And besides, I don't want you running. We don't want to hurt baby Cohen do we?"

Both Summer and Seth had taken to saying baby Cohen, as if it were his/her title. Maybe that could be its name…

They reached their closest friends, obviously Ryan and Marissa, and the boys watched on as the girls hugged like they hadn't seen each other in years. It had only been six weeks.

"Oh my God Coop! I missed you so much!"

"You've gotten so big Summ! I can't believe you're here!"

As they hugged again, Seth casually strolled over to Ryan, trying hard not to look in any way eager.

"Hey man, how's it going?"

Ryan in return sent a quizzical look over at the girls. No words were needed to know what he was thinking.

"I know, right? They're behaving like we've been stranded for years." Seth was trying to pretend that he too wasn't overjoyed, but he couldn't suppress the wide beaming smile that appeared on his face. He shook Ryan's hand before Ryan spoke his first words of the day.

"Do you think we should hug it out?"

"I don't know, it'd be fitting I guess."

"Seth, I know you want to."

"Come here buddy." His smile still beaming, he quickly hugged Ryan (in a very manly way) before catching up with Summer and Marissa, who were gossiping about everything that had happened in Newport.

As they walked to the car, Seth's arm was wrapped protectively around Summer's shorter shoulders, and Ryan was whispering something in Marissa's ear. It really was just like old times, and if no one knew different, they'd swear it was still 2003. Unlike many friendships, theirs hadn't fizzled out over the years, and they were as strong as ever. The Core Four for all time.

"Cohen, have I told you how much I love Newport?"

"I think just a few times, yeah."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

As expected, Sandy and Kirsten were ecstatic that one of their two sons was home for the weekend. They had planned meals and a party, not wanting to waste their precious time together. As the six of them ate lunch together, the same thought was running through everyone's heads.

This would be the last time Summer and Seth would ever be in Newport without kids again. Summer was getting close to her third trimester, where she couldn't travel by plane, and Seth was trying to save up his leave. The next time Sandy, Kirsten, Ryan and Marissa would see Summer and Seth, they would have a brand new baby to show off, and their whole relationship would be changed.

They couldn't afford to be selfish and do things just they wanted to do. Every decision would have taken into consideration their baby, and nothing would be about just them anymore.

Never a fan of silence, Seth was happy to speak up.

"So, what's been happening in Newport? I see the Thai food's as good as always."

"Seth, you've been gone for six weeks." Kirsten was marvelling at her son's attempt to start a conversation, probably just to hear the sound of his own voice.

"I know it's only been six weeks, but it feels like more." Turning attention away from Seth, Kirsten focused on Summer.

"Summer, how's everything going? Are you having any back pain or anything?"

"Not back pain yet. But baby Cohen's started kicking and it seems like they won't stop."

"Yeah," Seth piped up again, "It seems like they're going to be a soccer star one day. It's unbelievable." He was smiling over at Summer and she reached out to take his hand.

Kirsten once again marvelled at his son. He had grown so much from the awkward, anti-social sarcastic boy into a loving, attentive husband, who found his greatest joy in looking over at his wife or thinking of his baby.

And it seemed like New York had changed him as well. Maybe not obvious changes but he was just a bit more protective of Summer, and a little bit more attentive. He seemed to not be picking arguments with Summer anymore, but smoothing things down and being a mediator.

It was hard to imagine he had grown just that much.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"So, things seem really good between you and Summer."

Ryan and Seth were floating on the infamous blue and white stripy chairs in the Cohen's infinity pool (although they had been replaced more than once.)

It was Summer Seth's last day in Newport, and they had had so much fun.

"Of course they are, why wouldn't they be?"

"You called me up last week in a panic that you pissed her off and didn't know where she was. Remember?"

"Oh yeah. We took care of that ages ago. It's in the past man. That's old news."

Their conversation was interrupted by Summer, walking out of the poolhouse and coming towards them. Seth had promised to take Summer for a walk on the beach, and the time had come.

"Are you ready Cohen?" Summer was wearing a light, billowing yellow dress, which went down to her knees. Her long, wavy hair was left loose and her face was free of make-up. She looked radiant.

"I'm getting up right now." He rushed over to his towel and hastily dried himself. Their plane left at 5, and it was already 2. They didn't have much time left, and Summer really wanted to go for a walk.

They left the house and walked the familiar route to the beach, seeing the Cooper's old house, and where Seth used to keep his boat. Summer was upset and nostalgic, because it was the last time they'd be back in Newport for ages. And Seth was pretty sad too.

They reached the warm, white sand and felt the familiar sensation of grains between their toes. They heard the waves of the turquoise ocean crashing against the rocks, and the seabirds dancing above their heads.

They were walking hand in hand, treasuring these last moments on the beach, before they returned to the chilly winter of New York.

Summer was the first to speak up.

"I didn't realise how much I missed Newport.'

"Me either. I mean, I spent the first half of my life planning ways to escape this stupid town, but now that it's happened…"

"You realised just how much you loved it?"

"Yeah. Newpsies and everything."

"And I love New York Cohen, don't get me wrong."

"But it's no Newport."

"It's no Newport."

Summer let out an involuntary shiver, and Seth wrapped his arms around her.

"Are you cold? Is this helping?"

"Not really. New York's way colder than this."

Seth kissed the top of her head, and they kept walking.

"Do you realise where we're standing?" Seth had suddenly stopped, halting Summer with him.

"A random stretch of beach?"

"This is where you first talked to me. At Holly's beach party."

"I don't remember that."

"I know you don't, but luckily I remember every moment I've spent with you. Anyway, then we came here again the night before Ryan left."

"Oh yeah."

They kept walking, stopping every so often to point out a significant spot.

"And that's where we made up on Valentine's Day."

"And that's where we came after graduation."

"That night was fun."

They eventually came to perhaps the most important stretch of all.

"And this is where we got engaged." Seth was standing in a secluded area of the beach, cut off from everyone else by a weird arrangement of rocks.

"Of course I remember that."

Seth thought back to his proposal. It was pretty cheesy and cliché, complete with champagne and lobster, but it didn't quite turn out as smoothly as he had hoped.

He had brought the champagne with him, and put it down behind where he and Summer were sitting. She leant over to kiss him, and he completely forgot about everything else. When the kiss deepened and he leant backwards, his hand landed on the bottle, and before he knew it, it had smashed, sending champagne everywhere and creating a huge gash on the back of his hand.

Seth grew faint from the blood and Summer had to drive him to the hospital to get 7 stitches. She got blood and champagne all over her top, and had to help Seth to the car because he became such a wuss around blood.

Then, when they were halfway to the hospital, Seth said, "Damn, Summ, this is all going wrong. This was supposed to be perfect, and you'd have a great time and then I was gonna propose, and…shit." When he figured out what he'd just revealed to her, he didn't need to look at her face to tell what was going on. She pulled over the car and said, "What?"

"I was gonna propose, cos Summer Roberts, I want you to marry me." Then deciding he had nothing to lose, went on, "I need you in my life, will you marry me?"

Although it wasn't exactly how he planned it, the night couldn't have turned out any better. She said yes, of course, and they had a great story to tell everyone how it happened. Plus, he had a big scar on the back of his hand that would always remind him of that night.

Seth was suddenly bought back to reality by Summer saying, "I can't believe it happened so long ago."

He leaned over and engulfed her in a hug.

"You know, that ended up being the best night."

"I know what you mean."

He looked at his watch and realised it was time to go. After all, he still needed to be at work the next morning, there were responsibilities.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Bye Coop, bye Chino!" Summer and Seth were once again at the airport, saying their final goodbyes to Ryan and Marissa, who had once again taken them to the airport.

"Bye Summ! I'll miss you so much!"

this was worse than when they first left, because this time they knew it would be a while before seeing each other again. In Newport anyway.

"Come on sweetie, we have to go."

The final boarding call for their plane was a while ago, and he Seth didn't want to miss the flight, no matter how much he wanted to stay in Newport.

"OK, bye everyone!"

Everyone hugged one last time, and they handed their tickets to the attendant.

This was a feeling Summer didn't want to keep having.

Standing in an airport, waving goodbye to all the people and the town she loved.

She wouldn't be back in Newport for ages, and she was really going to miss it.

And maybe next time they visited, along with baby Cohen, it would be even harder to say goodbye to everything once again.

**A/N: That whole baby with the legs shut thing might seem really random and strange, but it happened to my friend, and I know other people it's happened to as well, so it's not as random as it sounds.**

**And don't worry, you will find out the sex in the next couple of days. I'll try really hard to get another chapter up soon.**

**Please review! It'll just the ammunition I need to get me going.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters, plots or concepts of the OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**A/N: OK, so here's another chapter. I hope everyone enjoys and reviews. I'm really hoping to make it to 100 reviews this chapter, but it could just be wishful thinking. But if you could help that would be great.**

**Enjoy! **

**CHAPTER 11: LAST DITCH EFFORT**

Summer got up from where she was sitting. It took quite a while; first she had to swing her legs around off the footstool, so they were placed on solid ground. Then she had to steady herself; one hand on her lower back and one on the arm of the chair. Levering yourself up when you're carrying around 13 kg of extra weight is no easy feat. But she'd gotten used to it, and had the routine down.

Her hand was cradling her enormous stomach; she was now 35 weeks along and as people frequently pointed out – quite huge. When she walked, she waddled, and it took her ages to do anything.

Still, she loved being pregnant. She loved going to her appointments and seeing how her baby was coming along. She loved finding out what sex their baby was, and making preparations for the nursery, and of course buying a ton of clothes. She loved seeing the changes in her body, and loved thinking about when the baby would come into their lives.

In saying that, she didn't like the heartburn or the nausea, or the hiccups every morning and every night. She didn't like getting up ten times a night to go to the bathroom, and she missed the sight of her own toes.

She did a bit of cleaning around the house, and started cooking dinner. Then, when she felt she'd done enough work to warrant a phone call; sat back down and called Marissa. It was a daily ritual; she always called Marissa at the same time every afternoon to catch up with Newport and update her about her pregnancy, so Marissa could relay it to Kirsten, who would then not call obsessively to check that her grandbaby was OK. Even though she'd only been on her feet for an hour or so, the feeling of sitting back down was great, as her feet were swollen and her back was aching.

A phone call to Marissa was just what she needed.

"Hey Summ."

"Hey Coop! How's it going?"

"I should be asking you that. How's my niece/nephew?" True to her word, Summer hadn't told anyone if their baby was a boy or girl, keeping it their own brilliant secret.

"Your niece/nephew is keeping me up all night. Honestly, I think I'm in the bathroom more often than I'm in bed."

"Well you've only got five more weeks and then you'll have your own little baby."

"Yeah, and I'll spend all night in their bedroom instead."

"Whatever. So why are you calling?"

"I felt like it. Oh, and you won't believe what Cohen did the other day."

"Did he get off work early, buy you roses and bring home dinner cos you looked tired that morning?"

"Totally. How did you know?"

"Cos he's been planning it for weeks with Ryan. And you know Ryan can't keep anything to himself."

"Really? I thought he'd be the best at keeping secrets."

"Not if you know what to do to get it out of him."

"Eww. I don't want baby Cohen to hear about their auntie and uncle like that."

"I didn't know baby Cohen was listening in on our conversation."

"Baby Cohen can hear everything. It's like, science or something."

Not bothering to dispute Summer's explanation, she let it slide. Not hearing Marissa reply, Summer continued.

"So Cohen was planning it?"

"Yeah. He's been talking to Ryan a lot trying to figure out what he could do to make you happy. Said something about you being tired and grumpy all the time. Is that true?"

"No! Well, maybe a little. But only because I'm carrying around another human being in my stomach and haven't seen my own toes in weeks. It's not as if he understands. But he's really been planning things for me?"

"Yep. And watch out for something tonight."

"Oh my god."

"I know. I was kind of surprised at how cute he was being."

"He's been great. I thought he'd do something really Cohen-y and stuff up everything, make some kind of monumental mistake. But he hasn't so far. I'm actually kind of surprised."

"Maybe being an expecting dad is doing things to him."

"And for the better. I can't even remember the last time he stuffed up."

"Well have a fun night and take care of baby Cohen for me. I have to go. But I'll call you tomorrow. Oh, and before I forget, Seth's planning a little surprise that I'm not sure you'll like."

"What is it?"

"I'm not supposed to tell you this, but… I don't want you to be disappointed."

"Just tell me."

"He's gone to that baby shop between West Broadway and Hudson Street. He said something about surprising you with the best baby furniture in the world."

"We already have furniture. I picked it out myself."

"Maybe he thinks he could do better. I don't know. But that's your surprise. He's going there after work. If you tell anyone I told you this, you're dead."

"OK. Bye Coop."

Marissa hung up the phone and turned to Ryan.

"Did she fall for it?"

"Yep. I'm a genius."

He pulled Marissa down onto his lap and started kissing her neck.

"Do you think the plan will work?"

"I can't see how it won't. Unless she doesn't go to the store."

"She will. I know she'd never let Seth pick anything without her seeing it."

Ryan called Seth and said,

"Alright, she's on the way to the store. Is everything set?"

"Yep. Over and out."

"We're not using walkie talkies."

"Sorry. I've always wanted to say that."

Now that both calls had been made, they could relax.

Marissa turned around so she was facing Ryan, and started kissing him back.

"I hope everything turns out OK. He's worked pretty hard for it."

"I'm sure it will. But, you might not believe me, Seth and Summer aren't the foremost on my mind right now."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Summer got dressed and started driving towards the baby store. Seth usually got off work around six, so he'd reach the store about fifteen minutes after that. She was pretty tight for time, but hopefully she'd get to him before he made any stupid decisions.

After parking the car, she took her time standing up before walking/waddling towards the entrance. Before she made it however, a man in a dark suit stepped towards her.

"Are you Summer Cohen?"

"Yes." Summer was really confused. Why should this guy care who she was?

"If you could just step into the car please."

"No. Why would I do that?"

"I'm on Mr Cohen's orders to get you to come with me ma'am."

"Sure you are. I don't believe you and I'm not coming with you." As if anyone would fall for this stupid trick. At that moment, her cell phone rang. It was Cohen.

"Hey Seth, the weirdest thing's happening. This weird guy's trying to get me to –"

"Just get in the car." The door to the car opened and Seth was inside, flipping his phone shut.

She climbed in without a word, but as soon as the door was shut, she said,

"Seth, what the hell is going on? Are we getting kidnapped?"

"Calm down, I think you've been watching too much Law and Order."

"It's the only show on when I wake up in the middle of the night. So what's happening?"

"I was trying to surprise you. Only you have to be so suspicious and go and ruin everything."

"It's not ruined." She smiled at him sweetly and traced a finger along his chin. "So where are we going?"

"It's a surprise."

"And here I was thinking your surprise was furniture."

"You know I'd never go out and buy anything without you. I'm too scared of what you'd do to me."

"Does your surprise involve staying somewhere overnight?"

"Maybe."

"Then I need to go and get some stuff from the house."

"I already packed for you."

"How do you know it's everything I want?"

"I just do. Stop making everything so difficult."

She squeezed his hand. "I think I might like this surprise."

He kissed her before turning his attention to her stomach.

"And I almost forgot to say hi to baby Cohen. What kind of dad am I?" He was smothering her stomach in kisses before returning his attention to her face.

"I know you'll love the surprise."

"Then take me wherever. I'm all yours."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Oh my god Cohen, it's beautiful." Summer found herself standing in front of a beautiful cabin, surrounded by trees and in complete isolation.

"Well, I was listening when you said you didn't know if having the baby would mean no time for us. So this is our time. A weekend away from everyone else where you don't need to worry about not spending enough time together. Sort of a goodbye to childless life."

"Well I love it. Thanks sweetie." She grabbed his hand and started pulling him towards the cabin. "Now let's check it out. I hope it has cable. That episode of Veronica Mars is on where she gets together with Logan."

He paid off the driver and followed her in.

"Obviously our romantic getaway for two is turning into a Logan fest?"

"I can't help it. Veronica Mars is the new Valley!"

"Well if it's the new Valley…"

"Shut up Cohen."

"Whatever you say."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"This is so nice Cohen."

They were curled up on the lounge, being kept warm by a fireplace on the far wall.

"Can you believe there's a fireplace, an actual fireplace here? I mean, we've never needed a fireplace. It's so romantic."

"You're sounding cheesy Cohen, have you been watching all those romance movies again?"

"What makes you think that? Romance is for girls. Not a big strong man like me."

"You're a lot of things, but you're not big and strong. You're as lanky and beanpole-y as you were when I met you."

"I'm just saying. The fireplace is really nice; maybe we should get one at home."

"If I get a big Christmas bonus maybe."

He rested his hand on her stomach, taking in their last few weeks of being alone. Not that having a baby wouldn't be great, he'd just miss being able to do whatever he wanted with Summer whenever he felt like it. Wherever he wanted to.

"Hey Cohen, what do you think of the name Michael Austin? Or Olivia Rose?"

"They're both nice. I really like Logan as well."

"And Sophie. Or Sophia."

They'd had the baby name debate many times, but it normally ended with an argument. They'd decided on waiting and seeing what their baby looked like before picking a name that would suit them forever. But it didn't stop them from occasionally having fierce disagreements about whether a certain name is good enough for their fabulous baby Cohen.

Now though, Summer wasn't grumpy or angry at Seth in any way, and she certainly didn't feel like ruining the mood with an argument.

They continued cuddling and thinking of names, just feeling so warm and comfortable with the fire and the thought that they had a whole weekend together, in the beautiful cabin with only other holiday-goers staying a few hundred metres away to disturb their peace.

She wanted to stay there forever, but she couldn't help the wave of tiredness that had come over her almost the second she stopped doing something. And Seth couldn't help but notice the way she hadn't stopped yawning in an hour.

"Summ, are you ready for bed?"

"No, I'm fine." Another yawn came immediately, followed by a series of hiccups from the baby.

"We have all weekend to do nothing but this. But I don't want you to be tired. The last thing you want is to be tired before the baby comes."

"Alright then. You know, you're going to make a pretty cute daddy. Giving orders but not trying to be the bad guy."

Seth was caught off guard, but was so happy at the compliment. He hadn't been told by anyone that he was going to be a good father, and kind of doubted his own ability, and to hear it from Summer was amazing. She generally didn't give compliments just to make someone happy; she was brutally honest and sometimes it hurt. Not now though.

"Thanks baby. You're not going to be a bad mummy yourself. Unless you don't listen to me and go to bed."

"I'm getting up. Slowly."

As she started moving, she felt a patch of wetness where she was sitting.

"Cohen, come here, now!" He had started walking towards the bathroom, but doubled back when he heard the sense of urgency in her voice.

"What is it?"

"I think my water just broke."

Then, when she stood up and saw the patch of wetness was stained dark red, started shaking.

"Summ, that's not your water."

"What are we going to do?"

They were both hysterical and not behaving very rationally, but then again, who would be rational in a situation like the one they had just found themselves in?

"We need to call an ambulance."

**A/N: as for the sex of the baby, most definitely next chapter, I promise.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters, plots or concepts of the OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks everyone for your reviews! I'm sorry to have left you on such a cliff hanger, but I tried to get this chapter up fairly quickly. I hope you enjoy, and I'll try and update really quickly, but reviews would greatly help ******

**CHAPTER 12: A RUSHED ARRIVAL**

"911, what's your emergency?"

"My name's Seth Cohen, my wife's eight months pregnant and she just started bleeding."

"Heavy bleeding or spotting?"

"Um, heavy I think. There's a lot of blood. More than spots."

"Is your wife experiencing any pain or discomfort?"

He looked over at a very pale Summer, who nodded. "I thought it was just a normal stomach ache."

"OK. Mr Cohen, can you drive your wife to the nearest hospital?"

"We don't have a car."

"There's a ten car pile up on the highway, a lot of the ambulances are tied up there."

"But we need to get to the hospital! You can't say that you can't help us."

"We'll send an ambulance as soon as we can. If you can get to a hospital any other way, do. We'll be there as soon as we can."

Seth hung up the phone, before turning to Summer.

"Summ, sweetie, I'm going to go to the other cabins to see if they can help. I need you to stay here."

"No, don't leave me. I don't want to be here alone."

"I know you don't, I don't want to leave. But I need to go, it's to help you. I'll be back as soon as I can."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"Just keep calm. Everything's going to be fine."

"You don't know that."

"I can just tell. Everything will be fine, but I need to go. OK?"

Tears streaming down her face, Summer nodded, trying to be brave but feeling terrified. He kissed her on the head, and rubbed her back, before leaving her alone in an unfamiliar cabin.

He ran outside and set off down the dirt path leading to the other five cabins.

They were spaced about a hundred metres apart, each taking advantage of the spectacular lake on the other side. And they were all completely secluded, with enough room between the cabins to make it as if there was no one around at all.

Now however, the distance between the cabins isn't ideal because it meant more time away from Summer, which could prove to be really bad, he didn't know. He wasn't a doctor, obviously, but bleeding had to mean something bad and he just really wanted to get back to Summer as soon as possible.

He knocked on the door closest to him, but got no answer, and all the lights were off. There were no signs of life, and Seth didn't want to waste time on a cabin that was empty.

He kept sprinting down the track until he reached the next cabin. A man about Seth's age answered the door, wearing pyjamas and rubbing his eyes, making it obvious he had been asleep. Seth checked his watch and saw it was only ten thirty, but felt bad about keeping the man up.

"Can I help you?"

"My wife's sick and I need to get to the hospital. We don't have a car and the ambulance is ages away and I need her to get help now. We're having a baby and nothing can happen to it. Please, you have to help me."

Seth didn't mean for it to come out all at once; he didn't want to scare him away, but he was desperate.

"I'm so sorry; my wife and I got a taxi down here."

"Alright. Thanks anyway, I'll just try the next cabin. Sorry to bother you."

"Is anyone else with your wife?"

"Um, no, she's alone."

"We can go over to your cabin and wait with her if you want. She shouldn't be alone right now."

"Yeah, that'd be great actually. We're staying in the next cabin down, and tell her I'll be there as soon as I can."

He ran along to the next cabin. No answer again. But when he sprinted down to the next cabin, he saw the lights were still on and there was a car in the driveway. Hopefully fourth time would be the charm. He had no idea what they'd do if they couldn't get help. He didn't want to think about it.

When he knocked on the third door, he was surprised to see an elderly couple still up and dressed.

He repeated what he had said to the first man, waiting intently for his answer.

"Yeah, you can use our car. I'll just grab my keys and you lead the way."

"Thankyou so much. I'm so sorry to drag you away from your cabin so late at night."

"Don't worry yourself about it at all. When my eldest daughter had her baby, she had to get to the hospital in the back of a garbage truck. And my son's wife was in the same situation as you, having to get her next door neighbour in a holiday resort to drive her. So don't you worry about anything except your wife."

The elderly man grabbed his keys and set off right behind Seth. He couldn't run, but tried to walk as quickly as he could, understanding just how scared Seth was.

They made it back to the cabin as fast as they could, and found the lady from the cabin next door sitting next to Summer, trying to calm her down but without much luck. She had lost more blood and her stomach cramps were worse, and she didn't have Seth with her.

When he returned, he rushed over to see how she was doing, and tell her everything was going to be OK. He didn't know if it was, but he needed something to hold on to, something that would make everything seem a little better than it was.

Summer had calmed down a little, and now Seth was getting ready to move her to the car. He put towels on Mr Park's car seat, thanked Mrs Rice profusely for staying with Summer, and scooped Summer up in his arms.

He's never been so brave in his life, never been so strong in his life, but what matters at the moment is getting Summer to the hospital and making sure she and their baby are OK. More than OK, perfect, that was what he needed them to be.

Because without her there was nothing in his life worth living for. He liked his job but had no passion for it, he had friends and family, but nothing could compare to Summer. And he needed her to be fine. He needed to be strong and brave and take her to the hospital and hold her hand because it was the only way he'd get to hold onto Summer, and he needed her.

For an old man, Mr Park drove surprisingly fast. He sped on every road, didn't slow for the corners, knowing the urgency that the two people behind him were feeling, and doing everything he could to help out. They were a long way from the hospital, but the way Mr Park drove got them there in less than an hour.

He sped into the emergency entrance and Seth rushed in to get a doctor and a wheelchair. He was surprised at how quickly they responded, having heard so many horror stories about having to wait for hours.

Maybe Seth's appearance with blood soaked hands and terrified expression made them act faster than they normally did. Whatever it was, Seth was extremely grateful that they didn't have to wait, because he was not sure he and Summer could wait for much longer.

She was wheeled into a private room almost straight away, and the on call resident OBGYN entered not long after.

"I'm going to set up an ultrasound to see what's going on, OK?"

"Alright." Summer and Seth were hand in hand, squeezing tightly and barely exhaling.

They were in the familiar position of sitting and waiting for ultrasound results. But this time was different; it was scary and uncomfortable and tense.

When the doctor had a pretty satisfactory look, she turned to Summer and Seth and informed them that she indeed has a very potentially dangerous condition.

"It's called abruptio placenta. It sounds very scary but it means that your placenta has prematurely detached from the uterus wall. That's what has caused the bleeding and stomach cramps and discomfort."

"But what does it mean?"

"It means that the blood, oxygen and food supply to your baby has been cut off."

"Is baby Cohen alright?"

"There's a heartbeat, although it is faint. How long has it been since you noticed the bleeding?"

"About an hour and a half."

"OK, I'm going to schedule you for an emergency C-section. Your baby needs to come out now, because they can't survive for very long without their oxygen. But there's still a heartbeat, and we've caught it early enough so it can be treated."

"But the baby's not due for another five weeks."

"Your baby needs to come out now."

The doctor walked away, leaving Seth and Summer to swallow the devastating news.

"Summ, did you hear that? She said we caught it early and it can be treated."

"But the heartbeat's faint. What if baby Cohen doesn't survive?"

Tears were spilling onto her cheeks, but Seth was wiping them away tenderly with his hands.

"You forgot that baby Cohen has the greatest mummy and daddy in the whole wide world, and we're fighters. We've fought hard to be together and we're going to fight hard to give baby Cohen the best life in the world. And I know we'll be fine because we deserve it. And there's a heartbeat and all signs point to survival."

She hugged him tightly and cried into his shirt.

"Thanks Cohen."

"You don't need to thank me. You just need to get yourself ready to have our baby. Cos really soon, we'll be parents. How great is that gonna be?"

"It'll be great."

"And we're about to meet baby Cohen."

At that moment, the doctor walked back in with a team of nurses ready to escort her to the surgery.

"I love you Cohen."

"I love you too. Now go have our baby." He kissed her tenderly and ran his fingers through her hair. "I believe in you and I know we're going to be fine. You're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me."

As she was wheeled out towards the operating room, Seth angrily wiped away a few stray tears of his own, before going into the waiting room and slumping his head in his hands.

'Why was this happening to them? He shouldn't be scared shitless on the day he was becoming a parent. He should be happy as hell and spreading the good news.

Which made him remember; he should be calling Newport and letting everyone know.

"Hello, Cohen residence. This is Kirsten."

"Hi mum it's me."

"Seth, is everything OK? It's pretty late."

"No, everything's not OK. Summer started bleeding and the doctor told us she had a condition which cut off the air, food and blood supply to the baby. And now they're performing an emergency C-section to try and save Summer and the baby."

"Oh my god. Are you alright Seth?"

"Summer's the one you should be worrying about. She's out of her mind with fear and I wasn't allowed in the operating room. So she's all alone."

"Sandy and I will be on the next flight to New York. I'm sure everything will be fine."

"I keep telling Summ that, but I'm not sure I can believe it myself. Thanks anyway."

"That's what I'm here for. Don't worry about calling Ryan, we'll let him know. Just take care of Summer and my grandbaby for me. Give them both a big kiss and let them know we're on our way. And Seth?"

"Yeah?"

"I think you're doing an amazing job. You keep surprising me with how mature you've been lately and how great you've been helping Summer out with everything. I thought you should know, you're going to make a wonderful dad."

"Thanks mum."

"I'll see you soon."

When Kirsten hung up the phone, she turned to Sandy on the other side of the bed, and said,

"Pack your bags. Summer's having the baby now. And she's in trouble. Seth wasn't making a lot of sense but he said there was something wrong and Summer and the baby could be in trouble."

"Well we've got to get down there."

They were both out of bed and getting dressed. There should a late flight leaving soon, and they intended to be on it.

"Have you got the teddy bear?"

"Got it."

"And the clothes?"

"Got that too. And the money. And everything." Sandy had quickly booked tickets on the last flight, which left in an hour. "We just need to get in the car and hurry. And call Ryan."

"Sandy?"

"Yeah?"

"We're about to become grandparents." He gave his wife a kiss, and marvelled at how quickly things seemed to have changed. It wasn't that long ago that Sandy was facing this situation with his very stressed, very pregnant wife. And now Seth was doing the same thing. And it seemed as if no time had passed at all.

"Now let's call Ryan."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Hello?"

"Ryan, it's Sandy."

"Hi. What's going on?"

"Summer's having the baby."

"What?"

"Summer's having the baby. And Seth said there were problems, and he was freaking out, saying he didn't know if they were OK. We're going on the next flight. We'll call you as soon as we hear anything."

"Thanks for letting me know. I'll try get off work tomorrow so we can fly over. Seth, Summer and Marissa would all kill me if I didn't. Say hi to them for me."

"Will do."

Sandy and Kirsten rushed through security and made it to the final call. They were on their way to New York, and they were, fingers crossed, about to meet their perfect, healthy, grandchild. All they had to do was pray.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Seth didn't know how to pass the time. He went into the sterile bathrooms and washed the blood off his hands, although there were some stains on his clothes that would never come out. As if he worried about that.

He had gone to the cafeteria and got a double shot coffee to keep him alert.

He had paced up and down the maternity ward, looking in at all the brand new babies, looking so innocent, before anyone had a chance to stuff things up.

And that had taken a grand total of ten minutes. Now he was waiting in the appropriately called waiting room, checking for any signs that the surgery went well.

There were no signs.

No doctors giving updates, no movement from the operating room. Nothing.

Then, the resident OBGYN walked out of the operating room, slowly removing her mask. Her face was unreadable, and her body language didn't give anything away. The fifteen seconds she spent walking towards him were perhaps the longest and scariest fifteen seconds of Seth's life. He had no idea what kind of news she would bring to him. Or if he wanted to hear it. He was terrified.

"Mr Cohen?"

"Yes."

"Congratulations. Your wife is fine. And you have a beautiful baby boy."

**A/N: So I'm no doctor (but I want to be one day), and the medical information might not be accurate. I did a bit of research on the internet, but I'm still not sure. This story is fictional however, so hopefully you'll see past any potential flaws. I do watch Grey's Anatomy as well (as you might have noticed in earlier chapters) and I get a lot of medical stuff from that!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and now you know the sex, so I hope no one's disappointed. You guys are the ones that voted!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, characters or concepts of the OC. Anything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks for everyone's reviews. I'm sorry it took me so long to update, but I just started back at school this week, and the amount of stuff I have to do is crazy. I'm really trying to write at every opportunity, but I'm sorry if I take a little longer at the moment. Everything should settle down soon. You know what would make me move faster? Reviews. I would love if everyone reviewed and you never know, I might write a whole lot faster.**

**Thanks and enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 13: A SMILE THAT EXPLODES**

"Did I hear you right?"

A small smile spread across the doctor's face, causing a chain reaction.

"You did. Your wife just gave birth to a baby boy via caesarean. I came out to give you an update. We should be finished in about five minutes, and you can come into the operating room now if you like. You might see quite a bit of blood, so it's up to you. You can always wait until Summer's taken to her room."

"And how is he?"

"He looks healthy. We'll have to perform some tests of course, but he was crying away, which is normally a good sign."

"Yeah, he gets that from his mum." He was smiling widely, so so so happy to hear that his wife and son were OK. "How's Summer doing?"

"She's been sedated, to reduce the risk of further bleeding. She's also been given a blood transfusion, but she's doing fine. She's a bit drowsy but conscious and alert. We've given her some pain medication which is making her drowsy, but she's very happy. Very excited."

The doctor went to walk back into the operating room, but Seth said, "I'm coming with you."

He had to put scrubs on, and a mask and shower cap, but managed to get ready in less than a minute.

The nurse opened the door for him and he stepped into the sterile room, rushing over to Summer.

"Hey beautiful." He squeezed her hand to let her know he was there, and saw tears streaming down her face.

"We have a son."

"I know."

"And he was crying."

"I know. I'm so proud of you." He kissed her forehead, and tried not to look down to where the doctors were stitching her stomach back up. He had always been a bit of a wuss when it came to the sight of blood. Or stitches.

"He's been taken to another room so they can perform tests and whatever. They're a bit scared about his lungs and stomach."

"Did you see him?"

"Yeah. Cohen, he's so perfect. And tiny."

"I can only imagine." Seth could see Summer was uncomfortable on the operating table, and wanted to keep her talking to distract her.

"Describe him."

"He has dark hair, lots of it.'

"Like a mini Jew fro?"

"But better. And he had the cutest nose. And mouth."

"Just like his mummy."

"And he was so small. Like as small as a doll. And he was crying heaps, but then he stopped. Like he decided it wasn't worth it or something."

"Well that doesn't sound like you. You never stop whinging."

"That's not nice. You're supposed to be nice to me right now."

"Sorry." He kissed the top of her head, before remembering he also had something to tell her.

"I called everyone in Newport. Sandy and Kirsten are on the last flight out tonight. They should be here in like four hours. And Ryan and Marissa are going to try and get off work tomorrow so they can fly in as well. Knowing Marissa, they'll be here. She'll do everything she can so her best friend isn't left alone. I don't count obviously."

"You know she doesn't mean it like that."

"Yeah, I just like to give her a hard time. I've never quite gotten over her ignoring me the whole time she was my neighbour."

"So everyone's coming?"

"Everyone's coming. As if our son deserves any less than a star studded entrance."

The doctor cut in.

"Alright Summer, we're finished here. A nurse is going to take you up to a private room and I'd like you to stay for at least three or four days. If you have any questions, just page and someone will come."

"Thankyou. Very much."

"My pleasure."

Summer was unhooked from her blood pressure monitor, and she was wheeled out of the operating room and into her own private room. After a while, she was really drowsy from her medication and was struggling to stay awake. Seth was right beside her, sitting in the chair, seeing her eyelids droop lower and lower.

"Summ, do you want me to leave so you can get some sleep? I know you've had a big night, a massive, humungous night, and if you want me to leave I fully understand."

"No, I'm fine." She yawned again, and Seth saw that although she wouldn't admit it, Summer needed some rest.

"I think you need some sleep. But I'll be here the very second you wake up."

Summer was too tired to even argue, so nodded gratefully and leaned forward to give him a goodbye kiss. Her body was sore from her operation and the cramps she had been experiencing in the hours beforehand. A few hours sleep would be really good for her.

"Bye Cohen."

"Bye Summ. See you soon. I love you."

"You too." Before Seth had left the room, Summer's eyes were closed and she was close to sleep. He had made the right decision.

And now, he was alone in the hospital. He was about to go find a doctor and get an update on his son, but needed to talk to someone; needed to try and express the million different thoughts running through his head. He knew what he'd do.

He'd call Ryan.

"Hello?"

"Hey buddy it's me."

"Hey Seth. How's Summer doing? Sandy said there were problems."

"She's fine. She's great. Everything's great. Ryan, I have a son."

"Congratulations man. Wow. A son. What does he look like?"

"I haven't seen him yet, they've just finished operating on Summer, and now she's asleep in her room. The doctors are doing some tests on baby Cohen, but I can't check on him til I told you. I can't believe it, I'm actually a dad!"

"I can't believe it either. What is the world coming to?"

"I'm just going to ignore that Ryan. Summ said he's tiny, and he kept crying, and he had a heap of dark hair. Now I can't wait to see him, but I want to wait and see him with Summer, but then she's already seen him."

"And you called me because you couldn't decide what to do, so you're stalling until you make a decision."

"Kind of."

"Seth, just go find the doctor. Meet baby Cohen. Give him a big kiss from me. You know that's what you really want to do."

"Thanks buddy."

"Me and Marissa booked the first flight tomorrow morning." Then looking at how late the time was, "Or this morning I guess."

"Yeah, sorry about the late call. I couldn't keep it to myself."

"Hey, what are brothers for, if not for a little Seth/Ryan time in the middle of the night?" Seth heard noises in the background, before being abruptly cut off from Ryan and passed on to Marissa.

"Hey Seth, how's Summer?"

"No congratulations? How are you Seth? What's been happening in your life?"

"She's my best friend."

"OK. If you insist. She's great. Perfect. Better than perfect. She's sleeping now but she did great. And everything's perfect."

"And how's my favourite nephew?"

"How do you know he's your favourite? Of course he's going to be, but you can't judge it until-"

"Seth."

"Sorry. I haven't seen him either; the doctors are hogging him to themselves. But the doctor said he seemed healthy and he was crying a lot, so I guess that's a good sign."

"Just like you."

"Me? No way. Summer more like it."

"Sure, if you say so."

"Well Seth, we've got to go and try to get some sleep before our flight in the morning. Give Summer a big kiss and hug from me, and say we'll be there soon."

"I think I can manage that."

"Bye Seth, and congratulations."

Seth was once again left on his own, trying to get used to the fact that he was now a dad. The last few hours had been so stressful and worrying he hadn't had time to think about it. And he wasn't expecting it to happen for another five weeks, so he hadn't quite given himself a pep talk. It was so unexpected.

Well obviously not that unexpected; he knew Summer was going to pop sometime, but it was a shock for it to happen so soon.

He went off to find a doctor, and didn't have to wait very long before he saw a prominent looking doctor in the corner of the maternity ward.

"Hi, my name's Seth Cohen. My wife had a baby like twenty minutes ago."

"Baby Cohen."

"That's right. He was taken off for some tests, he was premature, and I haven't heard anything since."

"I helped perform those tests. From what we can tell, his lungs are a little underdeveloped, but everything else looks healthy."

"So what's gonna happen to him?"

"He's in an incubator at the moment. It helps regulate his blood temperature and stabilise his lungs. We'll keep performing tests of course, but if he stays in the incubator for a week or so, he should be fine."

"That's great. Isn't that great?"

"It is. Now, would you like to see him?"

Once the doctor saw the look on Seth's face, he didn't need to hear Seth's response to know what it would be."

"Definitely."

"OK, he's just this way. Now I must warn you he's pretty small. Most of the growth in the womb happens in the final few weeks, so he doesn't weigh quite as much as we would like. And he has an oxygen tube attached to help him breathe while his lungs become strong enough to support himself."

The doctor led him into a room with ten babies, and walked into the corner. A tiny little baby was sleeping in a sealed off incubator. His baby. His hands were curled into miniscule fists and his face was scrunched up. He had an oxygen tube taped to underneath his button nose, and had a small beanie on his head.

Looking at the little sign on the side of the incubator, he saw that baby Cohen weighed 6 lb 2 oz and was 18 inches long. Tiny but perfect, that was the only way to describe him.

Seth felt his heart skip a beat as he looked at his son, so overwhelmed that his heart couldn't keep up. Without realising it, a few tears escaped from his eyes, slowly running down his cheeks. But he hid it very well. Crying wasn't a very manly thing to do (even after something so incredibly moving as seeing your son for the first time) and he had a reputation to uphold.

He couldn't even describe the sudden rush of love he felt as he first looked upon baby Cohen. He had felt it before, when he had married Summer, and he never expected to feel it again. His wedding day was by far the best day of his life and he thought nothing else would ever come close to the happiness he had felt on that day.

Obviously he was wrong. Today topped every day in the history of the world as the greatest day of his life. Summer was OK, and his son was OK. And he could now call himself a parent. Something that both terrified and excited him beyond belief.

"Can I hold him?"

"That might be a little difficult with the wires and monitors, but you can touch him, and talk to him. We often find that constant attention has positive effects on the health of the baby, and might make them recover just a little bit quicker. Do you have any other questions?"

"No, I think we'll be right."

"Alright. Let me know if you need anything."

"Thanks."

Seth was left alone with his son, and was very tentative as he slipped his hand in through the arm hole in the incubator and touched his son. He was overwhelmed as baby Cohen turned over a little and opened his eyes.

"Hey buddy. Sorry to wake you." Seth didn't care that there were other people around; he was talking to his son and didn't care who was listening. "Sorry that you came out a little earlier than you wanted to. That must have been pretty bad. But you're here now, and your mummy's very excited to see you. She even started crying a bit, cos she's not as tough as us boys. Anyway, I think you're gonna have a pretty fun time with us. We're gonna play games together, and go to Newport and see Uncle Ryan and Auntie Marissa and Nana and Grandpa. And I'll even let you listen to my music, but not mummy's cos she has bad taste in music. Just don't tell her that. And you can play my videogames too, and even read my comics." Then looking at how tiny he was, added, "Well maybe I'll read them to you, just until you can read by yourself. Mummy's asleep right now; otherwise she'd be here too. But she'll come soon, just as soon as she wakes up. Don't worry, we won't leave you alone in here, we're gonna take care of you."

He sat there for ages, just looking at and talking to baby Cohen, thinking of names and wondering just how much life would change. When he looked at the time and saw that a couple of hours had passed since he'd said goodbye to Summer, he realised he should get back. He said goodbye to baby Cohen and walked back towards Summer's room. He noticed that none of the other babies in the ward were anywhere near as perfect as his baby, but didn't say that out loud cos it might offend the other parents.

He saw Summer was asleep, and sat down on the chair beside her. Suddenly feeling his own fatigue catch up with him, decided to try and have a bit of a sleep himself. Trying hard to make himself comfortable but not having any luck, gave up and just tilted his head backwards, so it was resting on the hard wood of the cupboard behind him. Being a father sure took it out of him.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Cohen, wake up."

Seth's eyes jerked open as he tried to remember where he was and what was happening.

"Answer your phone."

He looked over and saw Summer, propped up on pillows and watching Briefcase or No Briefcase on the TV. That's right; Summer was in hospital, because they had the baby. They were parents. It all came flooding back to him.

He fumbled inside his pocket and found his phone, answering just before it went to message bank.

"Hello?"

"Hi Seth. It's Sandy."

"Hi dad."

"How is everything?"

"Great. Perfect. We have a son. And Summer's fine."

"Congratulations. Look, we're at the airport. What hospital are you in?"

"Don't you want to drop your stuff off at the apartment first?"

"I thought we would. But Kirsten's more than a little anxious to see her grandbaby. We don't have a lot of stuff; we'll just take it a little later."

"OK. We're at St Luke's Hospital on Amsterdam Avenue and 113th Street."

"We'll see you soon then. Give Summer a big kiss from us."

"Done. See you soon."

He hung up and turned towards Summer, who was laughing.

"Cohen, you should have seen your face when you woke up. Total confusion."

"What's the time?"

"Six o'clock."

"In the morning?"

"Yep. That's why I'm watching this TV. Game show repeats are the only thing that's on."

"How long have you been up?"

"An hour or so."

"You could've woken me."

"But I figured you needed some sleep. Anyway, I like Briefcase or No Briefcase. Did you go see him?"

"Yep." A smile exploded on his face at the memory. "He's perfect."

"He is. A doctor came by a little while ago and gave me an update. Although I guess you already know what's going on."

"I do. Do you want to go see him?"

"Now?"

"Sandy and Kirsten won't be here for another half hour."

"Then yes. I totally want to go."

There was a wheelchair in the corner of the room, left by a very conscientious nurse. Seth helped her into it, and wheeled her down the corridor towards the ward.

They both sat staring at baby Cohen for ages, before Summer said,

"You know we have to think of a name now."

"Will any name do him justice?"

"I doubt it. But we can't call him baby Cohen for the rest of his life."

"What does he look like?"

"You know what I think? I think he looks like a Noah."

"I think that's perfect."

"Are you sure? You're not just saying that to make me happy?"

"Since when have I ever done stuff just to make you happy? I'm saying it cos I really do think it's a great name. And besides, I'm pretty sure Sandy would kill me if I didn't carry on the Jewish names."

"So you really like it?"

"I really really do." He was standing behind her wheelchair, massaging her shoulders. "And I really really think it's a perfect name for baby Cohen."

"Really?"

"Really."

"So we looked through all those thousands of names in all the baby books and websites and we decided on the first name we thought of."

"I guess we did."

"Is it just cos he looks like a Noah?"

"He does look just like a Noah. Except without the grey beard and animals, two of every kind."

"Shut up Cohen."

"Yeah, I deserved that."

"And what about a middle name? You pick, it's only fair."

"Well going in tradition of Jewish names, I think Isaac's a nice name. I looked it up before and it means He Will Laugh. I think with parents with us, he's bound to be the funniest kid, and I think it suits that he will laugh."

"Totally."

"Hang on, you're agreeing with me?"

"What, is that so hard to believe?"

"Well it's pretty much the only thing that you've ever agreed with me in."

"I have to start sometime. Anyway, I like Isaac."

"So it's settled."

"Yep." Turning towards their son, Summer said, "Noah Isaac Cohen, welcome to the world."

"Yeah, welcome to a world of insecurities and paralysing self doubt. Except you won't have anything to doubt because you're so awesome."

"Cohen, that's a little cheesy."

"I know, but I've decided I can be as cheesy as I like cos he won't remember any of it. I have a good three years of cheesiness before I have to actually behave like a cool dad. I intend to make the most of it."

"I'll remember. And I won't let you live it down."

"Whatever. Let's go back to your room, I have a feeling that Sandy and Kirsten are about to come, and we need to be there so mum doesn't freak out that she's missing precious time with her grandson."

"Alright. Let's go." As they were leaving, Seth caught one last look at Noah, his fists scrunched tight as ever, and he smiled.

"Summ, we're gonna be the best parents ever."

"I know."


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original characters, storylines or concepts of the OC. Anything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Sorry about the long delay! I am trying really hard to write as quickly as possible, but there are things going on in my life.**

**I go to school from 7:30 to 4:30 Monday to Friday. On top of that, I have homework and assignments, and my grandparents have been in hospital and I visit them for 2 hours a day, as well as working twice a week for four hours at a time, so its understandable that I don't have any time to myself.**

**In saying that, I should have a little more time to myself now, and I'll try my very best to write in that time.**

**Thanks to everyone's reviews, they were brilliant and all made me so happy!**

**That's enough from me, please let me know what you think, and enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 14: ADJUSTING TO A NEW WAY OF LIFE**

Seth walked down the long corridor of the maternity ward, occasionally veering off right or left, and following the distinctive path he had travelled so many times.

He was pretty sure that he would know the way to Summer's room with his eyes closed, he had been so often.

Twice a day, every day for three weeks he had followed the exact same path. Up one flight of stairs, down the corridor, turn right, take the next left, walk down a corridor until the 'Private Maternity' sign, turn left, followed by the first right, then it was the third door on the right. If he was feeling really daring he would take the elevator instead of the stairs, but that was pretty much the only variation in his trip.

Today he was carrying a bunch of gerberas for Summer, all different colours like red, pink, orange, yellow and white, wrapped with a big blue bow. It was a special occasion today, very special, and he felt that the brightest flowers he could find were the only ones that would do.

He had brought her flowers everyday, all different kinds to decorate her boring room and give her something to look at while he was at work or gone home for the night.

He knew these particular flowers wouldn't stay in the room for long, but definitely had to buy them when he saw them, because they were so bright and happy, and today was a very happy day.

Summer and Noah were coming home. They had been cooped up in the confines of the hospital for way too long, and had been given the all clear by the doctor to leave. Summer was more than a little excited that she was going to sleep in her own, super comfortable queen size bed, and Summer was pretty sure Noah was going to love having his parents attention completely to himself. No more other babies the nurses had to fuss over, it was just him.

"Hello, is anybody in here?"

Seth opened the door into room N5 and was greeted by the sight of Summer, fully dressed, make up on and hair done. The first time he'd seen that in a while.

"Hey Cohen, how's it going?" She gave him a big kiss and wrapped her arms around him.

"Hey Summ." While they were hugging he started kissing and stroking her hair.

Summer was extremely excited about going home, and was in a very good mood because of it.

They were interrupted by the sound of a loud cry from the corner of the room. Seth walked over and found Noah looking extremely perfect, all dressed up and ready to make his debut into the big, wide world.

He was dressed in a white onesie, white beanie and was wrapped in a fuzzy blue blanket.

"Hey baby. Shh, you don't have to cry. Daddy's here now. You don't want to give mummy a headache do you? She'll get grumpy and then I'll be sad. It's OK."

He bent over and scooped Noah out of the cot, laughing as he saw Noah's deep brown eyes staring widely up at him.

"Good boy. See? That wasn't so hard." He settled down as he leaned against Seth's chest, resting comfortably and closing his eyes.

Summer, who was on the other side of the room, started laughing at how cheesy Seth became every time he was in a foot radius of Noah. He didn't care what anyone thought, and immediately turned to mush every time he was near his baby.

"You better be careful there Cohen. Pretty soon you'll be too far gone and no amount of Superbowl repeats will save you."

"You're no better. I've seen the way you wake him up just so you can calm him down, cuddle him and smell his new baby smell."

"Except then I can't get him to stop crying, and a lot of the time he doesn't smell that good."

"Whatever. We're whipped. And it's only because there's never been a baby as awesome as Noah Isaac Cohen. Especially now his drips are gone, and his oxygen's gone, and we can cuddle him as often as we like."

The doctor walked into Summer's room, and said,

"You all ready to go?"

"Definitely. Been ready for weeks."

"Excellent. Well I had a look at yours and Noah's obs, and everything seems totally normal. His oxygen level has gone up to 98 and his lungs are working well. So I've filled out your discharge forms and all you have to do is sign them."

"Thankyou."

"No problem."

They both signed the corresponding signature boxes and were officially discharged from the hospital. Seth found it hard to juggle his sleeping son and the signature at the same time, but he must have picked up some form of multi-tasking from Summer, because he managed it in the end.

"Are you ready to leave?"

"Yeah, let's go."

They walked out of the hospital; Seth carrying Noah against his chest and wheeling Summer's suitcase behind him, and Summer carrying the many bags of baby things that they seemed to need to carry everywhere with them, as well as another couple of bags of her own.

Summer thought she was high maintenance with all the make-up and whatnot that travelled everywhere with her in her bag, but that was nowhere near as much stuff as Noah needed.

He needed nappies, baby wipes, powder, cream, change of clothes, extra bibs, blanket, and who knows what else.

Compared to him, she was a light traveller. And that was one thing she had never been called before in her life.

"Are you right? Do you need me to take the suitcase? Or Noah?"

"I'm fine Summ. Stop worrying, I'm not going to drop him. Don't you remember how co-ordinated I am? I totally caught that crystal egg and I've only gotten better since then."

At that moment, he came up to a bump on the sidewalk and stumbled over it. He didn't even come close to dropping Noah, but needless to say it wasn't the greatest display of confidence and Summer immediately snatched her son out of Seth's hands.

"You know I was never actually going to fall just then. I was just doing it to scare you."

"I don't believe you. Here, take this stuff."

Suddenly Seth was left with all the bulky luggage while Summer got to snuggle up to a warm, cuddly, sleepy baby.

"It's OK sweetie. Mummy's here now." She shot a look at Seth. "You don't have to worry about anything now."

"You know I'd never drop him."

"You almost did. No matter what you just said."

Noah woke up and started crying.

"Good one Cohen. And now you've woken him up."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"It's your turn."

"No, I got up last time, it's your turn."

"But I'm tired."

"Yeah? Try spending three weeks in a hospital room with screaming babies all around you, having to get up four times a night to feed a very tired baby and getting woken up at 5am for obs. Then come to me about tired."

"Fine." He leant over and kissed her forehead. "Go back to sleep then, I'll get him. Just remember this next time you try and take him away from me for almost dropping him."

She rolled over and tried to get back to sleep, as Seth reluctantly left the warmth of his bed to attend to his wailing son. It had been a constant battle as to who was going to tend to the 3AM crying sessions, and the last week had been very difficult, adjusting to life with a baby in the house.

He knew that this particular time he wasn't hungry – he had been fed an hour before – and when he walked into the room he didn't smell anything change-worthy in his nappy. He was just lonely.

"Hey Noah, what are you doing?"

He lifted him out of the cot and started bouncing him gently up and down. When that wasn't working, and everything else he did just made him scream louder, he was getting a headache. Noah just didn't want to seem to quiet down and let Seth get some sleep. He even tried singing, but that didn't work either.

He ended up putting on a Death Cab CD and sitting in the rocking chair, bouncing Noah up and down and just hoping he would stop crying eventually.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Summer woke up at 7:30 and felt something was different. It was 7:30 and she hadn't been woken up yet. That was weird in itself, because normally Noah would be up at 5 and Summer would be up with him. What was even weirder was the fact that Seth was not in bed. He was never the one to voluntarily tend to his baby, and only got up when Summer got angry.

She got out of bed and put on her slippers and dressing gown. She stumbled down the hallway and into Noah's nursery. When she saw what was happening inside, she started laughing.

Seth had fallen asleep in the rocking chair, his head tilted backwards and leaning against the top of the chair, resting at an awkward angle. His arms were wrapped firmly around Noah, who had only recently woken up and was confusedly staring at Summer. Death Cab was softly playing in the background, but Seth seemed oblivious to the world.

She walked over to Noah and lifted him very gently out of Seth's arms. She didn't want to wake her husband up but felt that leaving Noah in his arms for too much longer would cause him to start crying, and that would be bad news for everyone.

"Hey Noah, how are you baby? You were crying lots and lots last night, and made daddy so tired he fell asleep cuddling you. I hope you're going to be a very good boy for the next few days, cos Auntie Coop and Uncle Ryan are coming to visit. And you can cry as much as you like for mummy and daddy, but not Ryan and Marissa. OK?"

As usual, he didn't respond, but she realised he needed his nappy changed and was probably ready for a feed. The only reason he wasn't crying was he was too stunned from waking up in Seth's arms.

When he was all set and ready for the day, all washed and beautifully clean, fed and changed, and dressed in extra cute clothes, she made breakfast. The extra hour of sleep made her bright and alert, and the thought of seeing Ryan and Marissa again made her happy and energetic.

She put some happy music on and danced along to it as she cooked, keeping an eye on Noah, who was in a bouncy chair near the bench. When breakfast was ready, she carried it into Seth and woke him up by sitting on his lap.

"Hey Cohen."

He slowly scrunched up his eyes and lifted his head up, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Don't tell me I fell asleep with Noah."

"Sorry Cohen. And I couldn't even wake you up. You looked too cute. Anyway, here's your breakfast. Eat up, get ready, Coop and Atwood will be here in like four hours. We have to be ready."

Seth watched on as she rushed around the house, cleaning the same spot three times and getting mad at Seth if he stepped on the wrong spot of carpet. He loved when she was in one of her frantic moods. He sat down and watched TV with Noah in his lap, wondering where she got the energy to clean up their house. He was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open, but Summer was buzzing around like an energiser bunny.

When the doorbell rang, Summer shrieked and rushed towards it. When she had confirmed it was in fact Ryan and Marissa, she hugged them both like crazy, before dragging them inside the house.

"I missed you guys so much!"

"Summ, it's been like four weeks."

"It feels like so much more. And you haven't seen Noah in so long."

Ryan and Marissa could only stay for the first weekend when Noah was born, and had left two days later. A baby could grow a lot in four weeks, and they were pretty excited to see what their nephew looked like and how he had changed. Obviously his tubes were now gone, and he had lost that slight yellow tinge he had from jaundice. He had put on a bit of weight, to bring him into a healthy range, and had grown a light coverage of soft brown hair on top of his head.

He was adorable.

Marissa was quick to steal him off Seth, and they settled down in the living room to talk.

"So, hows Newport going?"

"You know, the usual. Julie got 'herself into some legal stuff with New Match and had to get Chase to bail her out."

Chase was Julie's new husband, and had brought with him millions of dollars from real estate deals all over America.

"I bet my mum's really glad to have sold her half of New Match when she did. She's saved herself so much stress."

"Except Julie still goes to her when there's trouble."

"Not anymore. But anyway, we don't want to talk about our parents. Hows my nephew?"

Marissa was cuddling Noah, letting his small hand wrap around her little finger.

"He's great," said Seth, thinking over the last week since he'd come home from the hospital. "I mean, he cries non-stop and needs to be changed like every hour, but apart from that…"

"Cohen he's not like that. You're giving him a bad reputation, and he hasn't even cried all morning. Last night was just a bad night."

"Yeah, Ryan, I hope you're used to not sleeping, because that's what you're going to get for the next week."

Summer slapped Seth's arm, but didn't really mean it. She knew he was telling the truth, just didn't want to think about Noah as anything but perfect.

After a few hours the adults spent talking, Noah was asleep in his crib and Seth and Ryan were playing playstation. When Summer asked Seth whether he was too old for playstation – seeing as he now had his own child – Seth responded by saying that playstation was actually a very intellectual form of entertainment that kept his brain active for all his fatherly duties. Summer had gotten annoyed at him and taken Marissa into another room, where she could gossip and bitch while Ryan and Seth had a little brother time.

In the other room, Ryan was badly out of practice at Grand Theft Auto, and was listening to a gloating Seth, who had just won another game. But he had other things on his mind.

"Hey Seth, what do you think about… don't worry."

"What do I think about what Ryan? I think about most things you know."

"You've got to promise to not tell the girls what I'm about to tell you, OK?"

"I don't tell Summer everything you know."

Ryan shot him a quizzical look, and Seth conceded, "Fine, I tell her everything. But I won't tell her what you're about to tell me if you don't want me to."

"OK." He looked over to make sure the door was closed, and lowered his voice, just in case. "I'm thinking about proposing to Marissa."

Seth grinned and patted Ryan on the back. "I knew this was coming man. Good choice. How're you gonna do it?"

"That's the thing. I mean, it's been a long time so I have to do make it extra special. She needs to remember it."

"I don't think she'll forget it."

"No, but I mean _really _remember it."

"Then buddy, we've got a lot of work ahead of us. Before you leave, we'll have the perfect plan. We'd better get started."

**A/N: I'm kind of stuck to where to go from here, so if anyone has any ideas, please tell me! thanks!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N:** Just a quick note to everyone. Sorry to get your hopes up for a new chapter, but there should be one soon.

I'm just wondering if people are still interested in the story. The amount of reviews has been dropping for a while and the hits are low as well.

Can people let me know if there are still people wanting to read this story. If there is, I'd be more than happy to continue, even probably by the end of the weekend.

Just let me know, because I don't want to keep writing a story that people aren't enjoying, so if you want me to go in a different direction etc., I'd be more than happy to do that.

Just let me know so I can adjust etc.

Thankyou so so so so so much for everyone who has reviewed so far. It means more than I can say and I'm super grateful for everyone's kind words. Thankyou!

Ally

PS. I'm really, really sorry about being so complainy in the last authors note. I was just in a really bad mood and I didn't mean to take it out on you guys. And my schedule is clearing up a bit, so updates should be a bit more frequent – providing you still want them of course.

Thanks guys!


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, characters or concepts of the OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**A/N: I love you guys!**

**Thanks so much for all your perfect reviews, you made me feel a whole heap better about my story and I'm really glad there are still a few of you out there reading!**

**I really have the best people in the world reading this story don't I? Thanks so much guys, I really, really appreciate it. Yay!**

**Onto the chapter, I know I said I might get one up by last weekend, but obviously that didn't happen so I tried really hard to get one up tonight, cos I felt you didn't deserve to go another week without an update.**

**I'm trying my hardest to write as fast as possible, but I hope you guys understand if there's a little delay.**

**That's it for my little spiel, so enjoy! And review!**

**Thanks guys!**

**CHAPTER 15: A CHANGE IN PLANS**

"Have we gone over everything?"

"More than once."

"OK then buddy, good luck."

Ryan and Seth hugged at the airport as Ryan was about to board his plane. It had been a week of intense planning for the boys, and intense suspicion from the girls. As much as Seth bragged about his stealth at Camp Tahoe, he really wasn't that good at keeping things from other people.

So although the girls didn't know exactly what was happening, they knew something was up.

True to his word, Seth didn't exactly come out and tell anyone – except Noah – but he wasn't quite as secret as he hoped.

"Bye Coop!"

"See you Summ! Remember to call!"

"I will. Everyday."

"Bye Noah! You're so cute, I love you."

Noah was sleeping peacefully in a baby sling on Summer's chest, oblivious to the world. It was pretty much the only time he had slept in the past four days though. Ryan and Marissa were looking forward to going back to Newport and actually being able to sleep. As cute as Noah was, he was a brat. A non-stop crying baby who loved getting attention (same as his parents) and knew how to do it.

"We'll miss you guys." Marissa and Ryan walked towards the boarding gate and Summer and Seth walked to the car.

"I can't even remember the last time we all left the house together."

Seth wrapped his arm around Summer's shoulder. "I know. It's usually just one of us rushing to the shop while the other one tries to sleep."

"Who knew something so little could be such a monster?"

"But a cute monster."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

They decided that they couldn't go straight home after taking up so much of their time getting Noah ready for going out, and went for a walk through Central Park before eating at a café. For the first time in days, Noah was well behaved, and after a short bout of ear-splitting screaming, was fed and went peacefully back to sleep.

When they got home and unstrapped Noah from his baby seat (taking ages because they were still new to the whole buckles and straps thing), they looked at each other in amazement.

"Do you think he's just doing this to give us a bad reputation?"

"What?"

"You know, behaving so well in public, so when we complain about his non-stop crying people think we're crazy. And the whole time, Noah is this innocent little baby who everyone believes."

"He is an innocent little baby. No one's corrupted him yet. Not even the flasher at Central Park because his eyes were closed."

But true to Seth's word, almost the second they walked in the door, Noah opened his mouth and started wailing. It took them an hour to get him to stop crying, and in clean and gorgeous clothes that weren't covered in baby vomit. They were exhausted. As Noah lay peacefully on Seth's chest, Summer flopped down on the lounge and couldn't be bothered to get the remote to turn the TV on. Instead, she decided to grill Seth on his little secret from the past few days.

"So Cohen, what were you and Ryan talking about for so long this weekend?"

"Nothing. What do you mean, we weren't talking about anything."

"You're a terrible liar Cohen. It must be something pretty big; otherwise you would've already cracked. Does Noah know?"

"Maybe. But he's not going to tell you."

"But you are."

"Why?"

"Cos you're my husband, and you love me. And you know I can take away the thing you love most if you don't."

"And what's that?"

"Sex." She said it matter-of-factly, and smiled as she watched him squirm.

"First of all, you would never do that. And Noah's pretty much doing your job for you. Every time I even get close to kissing you he lets out a scream. He wants us all to himself."

"Stop trying to get me to change the subject. What were you and Atwood talking about?"

"I'm not allowed to tell you."

"So there is something."

"No. But hypothetically, if there were something, I wouldn't be allowed to tell you."

"Cohen, tell me now."

He was torn. Between telling his wife (with whom he always shared everything) and keeping his word to Ryan (which he did very little) it was obvious who was going to win.

"Fine, but you've got to promise me not to tell Ryan I told you."

"Deal."

"And you are most definitely not, under any circumstances, to tell Marissa."

"OK OK. What could even be that big?"

"Ryan's going to propose to Marissa."

"WHAT?" Summer's eyes opened up in amazement and she stood up to give Seth a hug. She had been waiting for this for so long. She had always wanted to be Marissa's maid of honour, and was getting worried that they'd never get married.

"That's great! Oh my god! I can't believe he's finally gonna do it."

"He's plucked up the courage."

"But he couldn't think of a grand romantic gesture?"

"Is it that obvious?"

She looked at him with a sly look. "He just knows there's no one better at grand romantic gestures than you."

"No one better."

"And did you think of something?"

"Yes, and it's awesome!"

"Can I hear it?"

"No."

"Cohen." She looked at him with a threatening glare.

"OK. He's going to…"

They talked for ages, until it was eight o'clock; their bedtime. After they put Noah in his crib for the night, Summer turned to Seth and leant in for an exhausted hug.

"You really did think of the best idea ever. I'm so proud of you."

He pulled her in tightly, and rested his chin on top of her head.

"I know."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Ryan was nervous. This was one of the biggest nights of his life, and everything was going wrong.

First of all the car broke down, and Ryan got oil over his nice suit when he was fixing it. Then Marissa slammed the door on her dress, tearing the sheeny material and ruining her brand new purchase. Ryan had told her to dress up and then this had to happen. Then, their reservation at the restaurant wasn't recorded properly, so they were double booked and had to be out in one hour.

Now they were strolling along the boardwalk up to the beach. Marissa was wearing Ryan's jacket because it was getting quite cold outside, and it doubled as something to discreetly hide her little tear. The dinner was great, but they were rushed and didn't have time for dinner. Ryan was freaking out because nothing had gone right so far and he was wondering what else could go wrong.

As Ryan steered them towards their final destination, he noticed that yet another thing had gone wrong. He couldn't find his final surprise. There was supposed to be something rather large and conspicuous placed right in the middle of the beach. Instead, there was just another patch of sand, which if you looked closely, could tell it had been disturbed recently. But that was all.

Shit. Ryan was in trouble. The thing that was supposed to be his biggest surprise; his grand romantic gesture as Seth called it, was ruined. Ryan had asked Seth if it was too obvious, too cheesy, to be considered grand and romantic, but Seth had assured him it was great. I mean, what better way to cement your status as a soon to be married couple than taking everything back to when they shared one of their most intimate and private moments. The tiki hut.

They had spent the weekend over the phone to Harbor, being transferred from the prop department to the acting department to the storage sheds and everyone had come up with nothing. It had been sold to a private buyer for his house. They tracked him down, and he reluctantly agreed to let them borrow the hut for one night – but he didn't bargain on it being stolen.

But since Ryan was pretty sure he would never be able to get the courage to propose to Marissa if it didn't happen this night, he decided to change his plan and keep going. Different destination. The lifeguard stand. It wouldn't be nearly as romantic as the intimate, candlelit tiki hut but it was still a pretty special place.

When they reached it and Ryan led her up the small ramp, she started getting suspicious.

"Ry, what's going on?"

"Just going for a walk."

"In the lifeguard stand? I can't even remember the last time we came up here."

"OK, sit down." Marissa followed instructions, sat down and looked up at Ryan. What was he doing? He was practically shaking with nervousness, and couldn't seem to form a whole sentence.

"What is it Ry?"

"Marissa, I want you to know that I love you."

"I know that. What's wrong?" By this stage, Marissa was wondering what the hell was going on. Ryan never expressed any emotion, and as much as she loved him, she knew it wasn't his strong suit and had grown used to not expecting any verbal displays of affection. She could count on him protecting her, but not saying he loved her. Even though she knew he did.

"Nothing's wrong, but I do. I have since I met you that day on the driveway, before I got to know you weren't like everyone else in Newport. I just saw you and I knew."

"I love you too. What are you getting at?"

"I don't ever want to imagine my life without you. You've been the biggest part of my life ever since I got here and I want you with me for the rest of my life. I don't think anything's going to change between us but I don't want to take that chance, because you're the greatest thing that's happened to me. Will you marry me?"

"Of course I will." She flung herself into his arms and kissed him, reminding them of another occasion after Summer break where they had done pretty much the exact same thing. "Why were you so nervous? You knew I'd never ever want to be away from you."

"Because nothing was going right, and I kept stuffing everything up. And then my big surprise was stolen and I got nervous."

"What was your big surprise?"

"The tiki hut. I set it up on the beach, but then someone stole it before we got there."

Oh my god, the tiki-hut! That was like the best night ever! But no offence, that doesn't really sound like a Ryan kind of plan."

"Yeah," Ryan said kind of sheepishly, "It maybe had something to do with Seth."

"I knew it! Seth has a thing about reliving the past."

"Well he thought you'd like it."

"I do, I love it. Or the idea of it, seeing as it didn't actually go ahead. But Ry, why did you think you had to make such a big deal of getting engaged. You didn't actually think I was going to say no did you?"

"No, I just wanted to make it special, cos I made you wait for so long. And I know how much you wanted it."

"Who told you that?" The look on Ryan's face said it all. "Seth?"

"Seth."

"How does he know what I want?"

"He said something about a computer class in eighth grade. You and Summer would always talk about how romantic you wanted your engagement to be."

"That was like ten years ago. He really has to stop living in the past."

"Maybe." Ryan wrapped his big, protective arm around Marissa and they sat together, watching the waves lap against the sandy beach, and cuddling under the moonlight.

"So are you OK?"

"Of course I am. Ryan, tonight was the best night ever. And I'll remember it forever. And now we're engaged, which means me and Summ can start planning the wedding."

"You sure?"

"Sure. You're so neurotic."

Ryan leant over and kissed her in the moonlight, and they stayed under the stars together in their little lifeguard stand all night. When Marissa woke up with Ryan's arm around her shoulder and his jacket draped around her, she smiled. In the middle of the night Ryan had remembered the ring he forgot about before, and it was now sparkling on her finger. Everything was great, and Marissa was really happy.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Summer, shut him up!"

"Cohen, he's your devil child, you shut him up."

"I'm on the phone."

"To Atwood? How'd it go?"

"The hut was stolen. But he went to the lifeguard stand and did it there. Oh, and he forgot to give her the ring until a couple of hours later."

"That's so Atwood."

"I know."

He turned his attention away from Summer, and back to the conversation he was having with Ryan.

"Seth, you know I heard all that."

"I wasn't exactly trying to hide it. So how's Marissa?"

"Pretty happy. Kirsten's in full blown mother in law mode but Marissa is good. Yeah."

"Always one with the words bro. When are you coming over next?"

"A few weeks I guess. Marissa wants to show off the ring."

"And Summer wants to show off Noah."

"How is my little nephew?"

"Crazy. Cries all the time, and is driving me and Summer insane. But too damn loveable to hate."

"Sounds like some brother of mine."

They hung up and Seth walked over to where Summer was gently rubbing Noah's back and trying to get him to stop crying.

"Hey baby. Hey Noah. Do me a favour and stop crying alright? Daddy needs some sleep."

It didn't work, but Summer decided to put Noah back in his bouncy chair and wait for him to ride it out.

"Cohen, I'm tired." She said it in her most whiny voice, because she knew he would react. And he did, pulling her in for a hug, where they both sort of collapsed into each other's arms because they were so tired.

"Cohen, I'm not so sure how I feel about your spawn right now."

"Me either. But he can't help it."


	17. Chapter 17

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, concepts or characters of The OC

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, concepts or characters of The OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys! Sorry that this took a while to update, but I had it finished last Sunday with the full intention of posting it but I have been so damn busy this week I haven't even had a chance to get on the computer. So here it is, hopefully I'll update a lot sooner this week, but what would really help me is more reviews!**

**You guys are the best! Enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 16: Back in the City Again**

"Cohen, what's the time?"

Summer and Seth were lying in bed, snuggled up close and enjoying the warmth in what was proving to be a very cold winter. They were also enjoying not having to be up every half an hour to tend to Noah. He had finally started to settle into some sort of routine, and could go nearly six hours at night without needing some form of attention. Which meant that Summer and Seth could finally get some sleep, and they weren't nearly so tired during the day.

Seth was about to go back to work, but they were having their first ever trip to Newport with Noah before Seth had to finish up his leave and return.

"It's like seven o'clock."

"We should get going then."

He kissed her sleepily on the nose, before rolling over and closing his eyes again.

"Did you hear me?"

"I just chose to ignore you. It's too nice in bed to get up."

She rolled over so she was lying on top of him, and started kissing his neck. Just as Seth was getting really into it, Summer stopped, rolled off him and got out of bed.

"I might continue this later… if you get up and get ready."

"Don't be so mean."

"If you hurry up and get into the shower now, I might join you…"

The promise of sleepy shower sex was too good to refuse, and he jumped out of bed to show how serious he was about getting ready. She followed him into the bathroom and they spent a good half hour together under the hot, running water – with their baby monitor right next to the shower so they could hear any Noah-related action – before Summer decided they really were going to be late unless they kept moving.

"Summ, think of how much of this we'll get to enjoy over the next week when we have your parents to watch Noah and a whole pool room to ourselves."

"We won't make it to Newport if we don't hurry up. You know how long it takes to get Noah ready."

"We can just put him in his carrier and go if we want. Not even wake him up. Stop kidding yourself, you just want to torture me."

"But I'm not going to take him to Newport when he's not bathed and fed and happy. And I haven't even picked out his outfit yet. We don't want anyone saying he's not the best baby in the world cos he's wearing an ugly outfit."

Seth smiled and pulled her closer to his body, making sure her towel fell off in the process.

"You know Noah doesn't own any ugly outfits."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

When Seth had gotten Noah out of his crib and had picked out a cute outfit – and then Summer had decided against it and changed him into something else – they got a taxi to the airport and thought about Newport. They hadn't been there in ages, and missed how great it was to be able to walk out onto the beach, even in winter because it was still warm. How great it was to be near Ryan and Marissa all the time, and go to South Coast Plaza. Bloomingdales was awesome but it was no South Coast Plaza, the place Summer had spent almost all her time when she should have been studying in high school.

"Hey Cohen, do you think Newport will have changed heaps?"

"It's been a pretty long time. But I don't think Newport's changed much since we were in high school. It's one of those places where everything stays the same, no matter how much things seem to change."

"Unlike New York, which never stops moving."

"Exactly."

"Do you think Noah will like it?"

"I think Noah's a five month old baby who probably won't be able to tell we've left New York except he has a whole bunch of people to fuss over him."

He started bouncing Noah up and down in his arms, and tickling his stomach, causing him to giggle and spit out his dummy. He was getting to the stage where he was very responsive to other people, and his new favourite thing to do was laugh. Which was great for Summer and Seth, who loved nothing more than hearing his beautiful giggle.

"Anyway, I think he will. We'll take him to the beach."

"And Sandy will take him surfing."

"Great."

"Seriously though, I'm looking forward to Newport." Seth got Noah's dummy and put it back in his mouth, before getting his soft blue blanket to protect him from the harsh wind outside and buckled him into his car seat in the taxi.

They spent a horrible five hours in the plane because Noah's ears were reacting to the high pressure, making him – and everyone around him – uncomfortable. Summer didn't think to pack his awesome fuzzy white earmuffs because they were headed to sunny Newport, and it was a mistake she'd never make again.

"Summ, it's your turn to take him to the bathroom."

"I took him last time."

"But he needs to be fed. I couldn't do that, even if I wanted to."

"Fine. Come on Noah." She lifted him out of the seat and rested him over her shoulder, rubbing circles on his back and trying to calm him down. She stayed with him in the bathroom for ages, until he had stopped crying and started drifting off to sleep, the red blotches on his skin from hours of crying starting to fade.

One thing Summer could rely on with her two Cohen boys was that they were generally pretty good at falling asleep after a big meal. She couldn't remember the last Thanksgiving where Seth hadn't passed out on the couch straight after dinner.

When she walked out cradling a sleeping baby, Seth looked at her in awe.

"How did you do that?"

"Same as always." She sat down and handed him to Seth, who in turn strapped him into the seat. Summer kissed him on the forehead and said,

"Now I can get some rest."

Just as she said that, the flight attendant announced that they were about to land, which meant Summer had to get all of Noah's blankets and toys and whatever else he needed and get everything ready to leave. Seth thought it would be best if he was carrying Noah when they left the plane to try and keep him sleeping, so he strapped on the baby carrier to his chest and got Summer to help him.

When they walked out of the plane and looked out upon Newport for the first time in over nine months, they couldn't help feeling a little emotional. As cool as New York was, it wasn't the same as Newport, and as much as Seth joked about how much he hated Newport, he missed it when it was gone.

"This, Noah Isaac Cohen, is Newport, home of your parents most famous and romantic moments. And your grandparents are here and you haven't seen them in a while."

Noah was sleeping peacefully on Seth's chest, his head leaning forward and paying absolutely no attention to Seth.

They caught a taxi to the Cohens and put Noah in the crib in the pool house before settling in for dinner and catching up with their favourite people in the world. But they got the feeling they weren't the only people on everyone's minds. Marissa and Ryan's wedding was set for three days away, and was basically the reason they were in Newport. It had been three months since the proposal, and Ryan and Marissa needed to get married before Seth had used up all his leave and had to go back to work. They had bought Noah a little baby tuxedo, and he was going to be the ring bearer, or rather get carried down the aisle by Seth while he was holding the rings. Believe it or not it was Seth's idea that Noah had to be included in the wedding.

"So, Marissa, how's everything coming along? How's the dress?"

"Perfect. You saw it, remember?"

"But I haven't seen it for a month! And is my dress in?"

"Yep, we have to go and have it altered tomorrow, and pick up Ryan's suit as well."

"And Atwood, has Coop turned into bridezilla?"

"Not really. She's pretty laid back."

Seth butted in, "Unlike Summ, who you couldn't go near for two weeks before the wedding because she was so stressed out."

"I was not like that!" She leaned her head against his shoulder and knew deep down that what he was saying was true.

A few hours later, when Noah was inside with Kirsten being fussed over like he never had been before, Summer and Seth were taking advantage of the pool and were taking a night time dip.

Instead of swimming though, Summer would swim a few metres away before Seth would chase after her and pin her down, kissing her against the side of the pool.

"Cohen, stop it. You know your parents are right inside."

"Yeah, behind the curtains, paying no attention to us because no doubt Noah will be putting on his cutest face and laughing at all of Sandy's lame jokes."

He snaked his arms around her neck and started kissing her, at the same time as he was stealthily undoing her bikini top.

"I can feel that."

"Who cares?"

He continued kissing her and slowly taking her bikini off, feeling her getting more and more into it and responding by starting a little pants removal of her own.

"We should move inside?"

"Why bother? No one's going to come out here."

"If they do?"

"I'm pretty sure they've guessed that this isn't the first time we're doing what we're doing." He started moving his attention down her neck, snaking slow kisses down her collarbone, but she was determined not to give in. "I mean, after all, how else is Noah here?"

She felt her bikini top float away from her, but didn't care. Seth had convinced her. He removed her bikini bottoms and she was making quick work of his shorts when they suddenly saw a light on them that hadn't been there a second before. The door had opened.

"Oh god. Summer, Seth, I'm so sorry."

Sandy was standing at the door, holding Noah who had started to cry. Lucky Seth was in front of Summer, blocking Sandy's view of her naked body, but it was pretty obvious what was going on.

Sandy looked away, and facing the other way, said,

"I think it must be time for another feed, because his diaper doesn't need to be changed and he was getting enough attention."

"OK, thanks dad. We'll be there in a second."

He went back inside before Summer slapped him fiercely on his arm.

"I told you!"

"I should have known that our natural contraception son of ours would choose this moment out of all moments to start crying?"

"I'm never listening to you again."

She swam frantically around the pool trying to collect her bikini and get it back on so she could rush back inside and tend to Noah, but before she left she had to go and punch Seth once more.

"I hate you."

She flounced out of the pool and went into the house bright red and dripping, before returning with Noah a short time later. She sat at the pools edge and fed Noah, paying careful attention not to let Seth come too close, as he was trying to apologetically win her over with his wit and charm.

"Go away Seth."

"I know you're not mad. You like acting mad because you miss the good old days when you could be as bitchy as you wanted."

"So?"

"As angry as you want to act, I know you had fun before, and we're going to have some fun later too."

"With Noah in the room?"

"No, of course not. Tomorrow morning, and afternoon, and night."

"How are we going to do that?"

"Pawn Noah off on my parents. They love the little guy."

"_I _love the little guy. I don't want to be away from him all day."

"But you want to catch up with me."

"I don't think this is an appropriate conversation to have in front of Noah. Anyway, we have more important things to think of. Such as Ryan and Marissa's wedding. In three days."

"We have plenty of time to think about that two days away. Now is time to spend together before I go back to work and we'll never see each other again."

"Dramatic."

"It's what happens in Newport. Everything becomes just a little more serious and melodramatic if it's on the west coast."

"I'm going back inside with Noah. When you're decent and get your mind off… you know; you can join us."

She went quickly into the poolhouse and pulled some clothes on, before going back inside to talk with Sandy and Kirsten. Seth joined them a few minutes later, and they talked more about the wedding plans and life in the Big City, before going to bed and preparing for the days that lay ahead.

**A/N: So next chapter will be incredibly awesome, I have plans. But if anyone else has plans let me know, cos I'll definitely try and include them, because they're probably better than mine!**


	18. Chapter 18

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, characters or concepts of The OC

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, characters or concepts of The OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews guys! And sorry for the very late update! My internet line was cut so I haven't been able to update for ages. I most definitely would have updated sooner (especially for Sam who reminded me).**

**I'm going away for a week but if I receive heaps of reviews I may just be able to update before I go! Just a little something to think about…**

**I hope you enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 17: The Big Day**

"Kirsten, where's her garter band? Have you seen it? We can't go ahead without it!"

"Calm down Summ, I've already got it."

"Sorry. I just want this day to be perfect for you."

"It will be. I just need you to calm down."

"Sorry." Summer raced over and hugged her best friend, very careful not to ruffle her perfect dress. It was a very light cream colour, sleeveless with three straps across her back. It was very reminiscent of her cotillion dress but with the added bonus of finely studded crystals across the top half. Sometimes it paid off to know people in the fashion business and she was able to almost recreate her beautiful dress from a very important occasion for both Ryan and Marissa.

"Coop, I'm just so happy for you."

Summer's eyes welled up with tears; tears of happiness for her friend who so definitely deserved it. There was a period in senior year when Summer wondered if Marissa would ever pull herself out of the hole she'd dug, or if she'd end up with someone as scummy and disgusting as Volchok. She was just so happy that Marissa was getting her fairytale ending. Especially since it was with Atwood, and no one could deny they were perfect for each other.

Jimmy walked into the tent that was set up on the sand, and told everyone that it was time to start. Summer quickly dabbed her eyes and checked her make-up was still perfect. It was; she was looking hot, if she did say so herself.

"Coop, I love you!"

"I love you too Summ."

"Now go and get married!"

With a smile she went and stood with the other bridesmaids and made sure Nina was ready to make her flower girl debut. Her blonde curly hair was still neatly in place and her pink silk dress was still clean. She sent her off down the aisle and prepared herself to go down as well. When she started her walk, she looked down to where Ryan was standing and saw Seth and Noah right next to him. Seth was beaming in his rented tux, and was holding Noah in such a beautiful, fatherly way, it almost made Summer start crying again. There was her son, all dressed up in a mini baby tux, his brown curly hair finally starting to evenly cover his head. He was smiling in the most adorable way and she could see that through anyone's eyes she had the perfect family.

The traditional wedding march started up and as Summer reached the end of the aisle, she took her place and watched her best friend start the longest walk of her life. She looked over at Atwood and saw a rare smile covering his face. This was definitely going to be the best day ever.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Now it's time for the vows. Ryan, if you'd like to go first."

"Marissa, you were the first person I met in Newport, and I want you to be the last person I see. I don't say this very much, but I love you. I have since the moment I met you actually. Before I knew about your beautiful personality, I just saw you and I knew. That was it."

For Ryan Atwood, that was an astonishing amount of words at one time, and they were so sincere and nice that when Seth looked over at Marissa, he could see she was almost crying. But she had to pull herself together and get ready for her own vows, which she'd been up all night finishing.

"Ryan, I know we've been together for a long time, and have had a lot of good times together. Being with you has been the greatest time of my life. We laugh together and cry together and I know I can always count on you if something goes wrong. I can always depend on you for keeping me together in the hard times and making my life even better in the good times. I know I've caused you problems in the past; I wasn't always the easiest person to know, but I promise you that from now on I'll be there for you too. I want to show you how much I love you, and I promise that from this day on, I'll try every day to show you how much you mean to me."

She smiled at Ryan, tears welling in her eyes, and he smiled back, showing that he loved her too. After the vows were over, the priest pronounced them man and wife. Ryan leant over and took Marissa in his arms, and whispered quietly so no one else could hear,

"You know what we haven't done in a while?"

They kissed and laughed together, and Ryan smashed the bottle on the ground that Seth had insisted on him having. He was brought up in a half-Jewish home since he was sixteen, which meant he was like an eighth Jewish, and he did have to follow tradition, after all.

After the ceremony, the fifty or so guests walked a few hundred metres down the beach to where a catering company was set up with champagne and crudités.

As Seth walked over carrying Noah, who was now awake after sleeping through most of the ceremony, a waiter walked up and said,

"Mushroom leek crescents? Crab and brie filo?"

"Still?"

The teenage waiter looked at him strangely and walked on. Obviously he hadn't been around long enough to realise that this was the appetiser that was served ten years ago, and even twenty years ago according to Sandy.

"Noah buddy, welcome to your very first Newport party. You'll see this food at every Newport party you'll ever go to. Which is hopefully not too many."

Noah looked up quizzically at Seth before returning to his daydreaming. He was clearly not bowled over by the company, and was ready to move on to bigger and better things.

Seth was almost offended that his son paid so little attention to him, but had to remind himself that Noah was six months old; he had no idea what was going on around him.

He looked over to the "dance floor," a random stretch of sand, and saw that Ryan and Marissa, or Atwoop as he liked to call them, were starting their first official dance.

The opening notes of 'Forever Young' filled the air and Seth watched their faces as they recognised what the song was. Of course it was Seth's secret idea to surprise them with a song from their past, which was where Seth was commonly told he lived.

Ryan shot Seth a look, which quickly turned to a smile because he was so happy. He wasn't even self-conscious that he was dancing in front of everybody, because it was like he and Marissa were the only two people on the beach. Except for Seth of course, who was watching grinning like an idiot.

When the song was over, Seth walked over to Summer, and said "Hey babe." He kissed his wife, who quickly snatched Noah away and smothered him in kisses.

"Cohen, can you believe Ryan and Marissa finally got hitched?"

He kissed Summer on the top of the head before replying,

"You're always so charming, aren't you?"

"Yep."

Summer was so excited – perhaps even more so than even Ryan and Marissa – that she didn't really care what anyone thought about how she was talking or acting.

"Now come on Noah, let's dance."

She took her baby onto the dance-floor and left Seth wondering what he was going to do. Obviously Ryan and Marissa were going to want to dance and spend time together. Before he thought about it, a girl he remembered vaguely from Harbor came up and started talking to him.

"Hey Seth, do you want to dance?"

Since there was nothing else to do, he took her up on the offer and they started on the dance-floor.

"So what have you been up to?"

"Do you mean since I left Harbor or since I moved to New York?"

"You went to New York?"

"I think you were at my farewell party."

"Oh yeah. Whatever. So yeah, what's happening in your life?"

"I married Summer Roberts. And we had a baby in the beginning of the year."

"Oh my god, was that Summer's baby you were holding?"

Her lips were so pumped full of collagen that he could barely make out what he was saying. And she kept flicking her hair, and it kept hitting him in the face.

"Yes, that was mine and Summer's baby I was holding today."

"He was cute. Except he was bald, and a bit chubby."

Seth became indignant. "He is not bald! He has heaps of hair. But he's only tiny and his hair's still growing. And he's not chubby, he's beautiful." Inside he was just praying for the song to end, so he could leave this girl and go back to his table, even if it meant sitting alone.

"Whatever. So do you work out?"

Now Seth was angry and confused. "No, why?"

"You're looking hot." She stealthily slipped her room key into his tux pocket.

"What are you doing?"

"In case you were looking for a good time."

"Didn't you hear me? I'm married."

"So? Everybody does it these days."

"Not me." 

"Whatever."

All of a sudden the song ended, and Seth practically ran away. When she asked if he wanted another dance, he very politely said no way, he wanted a dance with his son. He sidled up to Summer and whispered so no one else could hear,

"Don't leave me alone at all. I forgot how plastic our Newport Barbie high school friends were."

Summer pawned Noah off on Sandy, and moved close to Seth; close enough that she could feel his heart beating. She rested her head on his chest, enjoying the comfort she felt from being so close to Seth.

"I'm sorry I left you. I forgot how antisocial you were. It won't happen again."

They danced for a while on the sand, loving how many memories it brought back of dates on the beach that ended in dancing, or perhaps something else. They were suddenly interrupted by Sandy (doing his best MC impression while holding his favourite grandson) toasting the marriage. After that they danced for hours and hours, the most memorable moment being Ryan trying to swing dance when an old jazz song came on, but failing miserably and ending up on the floor after he tripped over Marissa's bare feet.

Apart from that though, the afternoon, turning into the night, was the most perfect occasion, where everyone was happy and even Noah refrained from crying.

Before they knew it, it was time to drop Marissa and Ryan off at the airport, where they were going to go to England for their honeymoon. Ryan, Marissa, Summer and Seth holding a sleeping Noah, piled into the limo and got driven to the airport, the whole time talking about how great everything was.

When they got to the airport, Summer started tearing up again,

"I can't believe you're going away again, and when you get back, we'll be back in New York. When will we see you again? Now we can do cool married couple things together."

"Like going out to the diner? Or going over to each other's houses to play playstation? Because I'm pretty sure we've been doing married couple things for the last ten years."

"I'm just gonna miss you guys! And now you're gonna know how great it feels to be married."

"Thanks sweetie." Seth took that as a compliment, and being slightly tipsy as he was, everything seemed even better than it was.

The final boarding call shocked Ryan and Marissa into action, and there were hugs all round as they prepared to go on their romantic honeymoon vacation.

As they walked away, Summer shouted, "I'll miss you guys!" before turning around and getting the limo back to the house.

They fell into bed in a drunken stupor, and had the best sleep ever, seeing as Sandy and Kirsten wanted Noah to sleep in the main house so they could be closer to him on his last night in Newport. It was the first time that they had slept for a solid nine hours since Noah was born.

When they woke up they snuggled together in bed before turning on the TV.

"And our top news story today. A flight bound for London from California has crashed into a field near Heathrow airport after one of the engines failed mid-flight. There have been a reported three casualties with the toll expected to rise. Now we're going to cross to our London correspondent…"

Suddenly not so relaxing anymore.


	19. Chapter 19

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, characters or concepts of The OC

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, characters or concepts of The OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews guys! Here's an update before I go away. I hope everyone likes it. Also, sorry I haven't replied to individual reviews but I was instead focusing on getting this up before I leave in an hour.**

**The best thing in the world would be if I had heaps and heaps of reviews when I return, and it would definitely encourage me to write fast.**

**Enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 18: CRUNCH TIME**

"Cohen, did you hear that?"

They rushed out of bed and piled on clothes, before running into the main house.

Sandy and Kirsten were performing their morning routine of coffee, bagels and sodoku, with Noah lying on a blanket on the ground, playing with his rattle.

"Hi Summer, hi Seth. How did you sleep?"

"Fine…have you listened to the news this morning?"

"No, why?"

"There was something about a plane crash in Heathrow from California. Do you know what flight Ryan and Marissa were on?"

"No." Kirsten ran into the living room and switched on the TV, where the crash was filling up the news segments on all the channels.

"More news is coming to light about the plane crash near Heathrow airport early this morning. There are now five reported casualties and thirty more injured in surrounding hospitals. The pilot has survived and is in shock, but has reportedly told police that the left wing engine failed mid-flight and the wheels failed on emergency landing. The casualties have not yet been identified. More news in fifteen minutes…"

Sandy and Kirsten looked at each other in shock, before trying to call his mobile – seventeen times.

"Still no answer. Just cuts straight to the answering machine."

"That could be for any number of reasons. We don't have to think the worst."

"But it could be because they were on that plane. What did the newsreader say about contacting authorities?"

"I think they said to go through the American embassy in London."

"Let's find the number then."

It became clear that Summer was shaking as she walked over to get the phone book.

"Hey, Summ, come here." Seth noticed how shook up Summer was, and even though he was feeling the same way, he needed to be strong for her. He took the phone book out of her hands and passed it onto Kirsten, before enveloping her in a huge hug. He felt her shaky exhale and a hint of dampness on his shirt. He mouthed to Sandy that they would be back soon, before leading her into his old bedroom.

"Summ, look at me."

She looked up and he could see the tears welling in her eyes. She looked so small and fragile, obviously terrified about the potential fate of her two best friends (except for Seth of course, who won hands down).

He wiped the tears from her eyes and hugged her again.

"Summ, we don't know if anything's wrong. We don't even know if they were on the flight."

"But they could have been."

"Don't think about the worst case scenario. I need you to be strong for me, so I don't lose it too. And we have a son out there who needs feeding and dressing and he needs his mum to be strong for him too. Ryan and Marissa are probably in their luxury hotel right about now with a view of Buckingham Palace."

"Then why aren't they answering their phones?"

"Because it's their honeymoon night, what do you think they're doing?"

"I'm just scared."

"Me too. But there's no use worrying until we know for sure. OK?"

She hugged him tighter until he could feel his delicate lungs starting to bruise, but made no attempt to move away.

"Now are you ready to go back into the living room?"

She nodded but made no effort to end their bone-crushing hug. After a while Seth decided they couldn't stay in his old room any longer, because they had answers to find and a baby that needed his parent's attention.

They walked back into the living room, Summer still terrified but not about to burst into tears anymore. Thanks to Seth she was holding it together a little more.

"We called the embassy, but they had no information regarding people on the flight. They said to call back in half an hour when they would hopefully have a clearer idea of what was happening."

"And did you try calling Ryan and Marissa again?"

"No answer."

"OK, but that's no reason to worry. There's probably some perfectly reasonable explanation for everything."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Ryan and Marissa were sitting down in their cushy first-class seats taking full advantage of all the free movies. All of a sudden they felt a small explosion followed by a series of smaller crashes, causing the plane to shake. Ryan gripped Marissa's hand, terrified of heights in the first place, and his face whitened in horror.

"Are you OK?"

"I think so. Are you?"

"Yep."

The pilot's voice came over the loudspeaker saying an engine had failed, and told everyone that they needed to make an emergency landing. Ryan and Marissa looked at each other and held each other's hands so tightly they were in danger of actually falling off. What a great way to start your married life together.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Summer walked over to where Noah was playing and picked him up, snuggling

him close and kissing his soft baby hair. He smiled his amazing smile which made Summer's heart melt a little. But then she thought about how Ryan and Marissa might never see Noah's smile again, or how Noah might not ever know his auntie and uncle – two of the greatest people ever – or how Ryan and Marissa might never experience seeing the first smile of their own child, which made her extremely sad all over again.

Sensing Summer's mood, Seth asked her to go into the pool house and change Noah into something different, and when she was gone, Seth opened up to his parents.

"What are we going to do?"

"Just keep calling I guess. And not think the worst."

"About Summer."

"Just try and keep her strong. The last thing we need right now is a breakdown."

"But I'm about to breakdown. How do I keep her strong?"

"That's what you have to figure out. Maybe take Noah to the beach, keep your mind off things. We'll stay by the phone and if we hear anything we'll let you know."

"Thanks guys. I'll go tell Summ."

He walked into the pool house and found Summer feeding Noah. She could see she had been crying again, and Noah looked a bit grumpy because he didn't understand why he wasn't getting the attention he deserved. When she was finished feeding Noah, Seth went over and picked him up, bouncing him and covering his stomach in kisses, trying to make up for the lack of attention from before.

"So Summ, I was thinking we should take Noah to the beach; he hasn't spent nearly enough time in the best of what Newport has to offer."

"What about the phone?"

"Sandy and Kirsten have got it covered."

"Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." He walked over to her and carefully stroked her hair away from her face. "Anyway, we haven't practiced our sandcastle skills in a while."

Summer managed a weak laugh but her heart wasn't in it. She got dressed and they walked off towards the beach, hand in hand, with Noah's head resting on Seth's shoulder.

No matter how relaxing it would have been on a normal day, the sound of the waves and feel of the sand between their toes didn't help them calm down but made them more anxious that they were spending more time away from the phone, and more time away from any potential news. Noah had a great time though, getting bounced around and tickled and kissed and smothered in attention as it was a way for Summer and Seth to pretend everything was OK. But everything most certainly wasn't OK.

"Do you want to just head back up towards the house?"

"Alright. This isn't really helping is it?"

"Not really."

When they got back to the house, they saw the expressions on Sandy and Kirsten's face had changed since they had left. They looked sadder, more grim, as if they had indeed heard bad news.

"What is it?"

"We called the embassy back. They confirmed that Ryan and Marissa were on the flight that crashed."

"Did they have any other news?"

"None yet."

"OK." Summer turned drastically pale and before anyone knew it, she was on the floor. Seth dumped Noah on Kirsten's lap and rushed over to her.

"Summ, Summ, are you OK?"

When he got no response, he used his incredible strength to lift her up and carry her to the bed in the pool house. Her eyelids started fluttering and Seth breathed a sigh of relief.

"Seth, why am I in here?"

"You fainted."

"What?" She rubbed the spot on her head where she landed and looked up in confusion.

"You fainted. But you're OK." He stroked her hair and held her hand.

"I'm not OK. Ryan and Marissa are not OK."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Ryan and Marissa had spent the last twenty minutes preparing themselves for this moment. The pilot was about to make an emergency landing in a field.

"I love you Ry."

"I love you too. More than anything or anyone in the entire world."

"Me too. And I don't know what I'd do without you so don't go anywhere."

"I'll try."

He leant over and kissed her with the most tender, gentle kiss they'd ever experienced, before gripping each other's hands and just looking into each other's eyes. This was it.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Summer had been resting for the last twenty minutes in the pool house bed, but decided to venture back into the main house. As she walked in the phone rand and Summer and Seth looked at each other, silently pleading for everything to be OK. Kirsten answered the phone.

"Hello?"


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, characters or concepts of the OC

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, characters or concepts of the OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**AN: Hey guys, thanks for the reviews! Sorry this took a while to update but I had heaps of things to catch up on after I got back from my holiday. Anyway, here it is and I hope everyone enjoys.**

**My next update might not be up super quickly because I've already been hit by the workload of school, but if I have a spare second, know that I will spend it writing.**

**Thanks and enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 19: THE PLANE CRASH THAT SHOOK THE WORLD**

_"Hello?"_

"Hello, this is Amanda from the American Embassy London. Am I speaking to Mr or Mrs Cohen here?"

Her voice was so chirpy, enthusiastic and bright. She probably woke up that morning and performed her usual routine, caught her normal bus to work and was living her ordinary life. She didn't have to worry if one of the closest people in her life was dead; she was just doing her job, and at the end of the day she would go home and nothing would have changed. But would it have been better if she called up in a sombre, morose voice? In situations like this, there was really no appropriate way to behave.

"Yes this is Kirsten Cohen, do you have any news?"

"Yes we do. We have just received an update from the police over at the site of the crash. They have confirmed that neither Ryan or Marissa Atwood have been included in the confirmed casualties and they have both been transported to St Bartholomew's Hospital in north east London. There is no information on their condition, because as you can understand, the hospitals are quite overwhelmed. We suggest you call back in about an hour and we might have a more detailed list of the injuries etc. from the different hospitals."

Kirsten nodded slowly, a few tears unwillingly escaping from her eyes. Since nobody else in the room heard the conversation, their hearts were practically ripping out of their chests. They had taken the tears as the absolute worst sign, but needed confirmation from Kirsten.

"Alright, thank you Amanda. We'll definitely call back soon."

"Is there anything else I can do for you at this time?" Another automatic question.

"No, thanks for all your help."

She hung up the phone and saw three pairs of eyes waiting anxiously for her response.

"They're not on the casualty list. They've both been taken to a hospital near London, but she doesn't know their condition."

Summer quickly leaned into Seth and dampened his shirt with warm, salty tears of relief. Seth buried his head into Summer's hair and kept muttering 'thank god, thank Moses' so nobody else could hear. Sandy moved over to where Kirsten was openly crying and enveloped her, allowing both their emotions to escape. Sandy was the first person to speak up.

"So they're not dead. Oh thank god."

"But we don't know what their condition is. It could be serious." Kirsten was always one to think rationally, even if it meant thinking the worst.

"But they're still alive. The ambulance wouldn't have taken them if they died. Now we just wait and pray that they're OK. Knowing Ryan and Marissa, they've probably found themselves an empty room; I mean it is their honeymoon after all."

"Ew, gross dad. Don't think like that. But I agree with you. Ryan's strong, and Marissa's strong. They've both been through so much before. They're fighters and I know they're going to be doing everything they can to survive. We can't be unrealistic and say they're perfectly fine, but they're not going to lie down either. We'll just have to wait and call back soon to find out more, but until then there's no use worrying or thinking the worst."

Summer looked up at her husband in admiration. A lot of people would look at him and call him scrawny or cowardly, but if people could see him now, they'd realise. He was one of the strongest, bravest people in the whole world, and she'd lost count of the occasions where people were close to breaking down and Seth would step in and take control. He may not physically be the strongest person – although he could carry her easily, so he couldn't be that weak – he was mentally the strongest person she knew.

"You're right." Now was the time to stand behind her man. "We can't just sit here and wait until the next call though. As worried as I am, waiting by the phone isn't going to help anyone. I'm going to have a shower and wake myself up."

"I'll join you." For once, Sandy didn't make any inappropriate joke about Summer and Seth showering together, because he knew how much they needed each other. And besides, Seth picked Noah up and carried him into the pool house with him.

Seth sat on the bed playing with Noah while Summer went into the shower, and when she came back out, dripping wet and wearing only a towel, it was Seth's turn, and after he came out, dressed in clean clothes, his Jew-fro tamed by water and product, it was time to bathe Noah together. Since taking care of a baby was such hard work, Summer and Seth hardly got to spend any time together. Bathing Noah together was a bit of a tradition, because it was quality time, no matter how short. Together they'd wash his fine baby hair and play with his rubber ducks together and then they'd take turns drying him while the other dressed him. It was a good system and allowed them to get some extra time together. Plus, it was such a fun time because Noah was becoming so responsive, and bath time was his favourite time.

When he was all washed up and sleeping peacefully in Summer's arms, Seth stole a quick kiss before they all returned to the house. Obviously they were both still terrified about the fate of their best of best friends, but were hugely relieved by the news that they were at least not a reported casualty, and they both held great faith in the fact that Cohens were survivors. Even adopted Cohens and Cohen in-laws.

Kirsten had made lunch by the time they returned, as she had over the years developed quite a culinary repertoire that spanned cuisines and meal times. She was now skilled in both the art of breakfast, lunch and dinner and often cooked when she was nervous; like now. But despite the good (or not bad anyway) news, the four were still extremely worried about their friends and no one ate much. At least this time it wasn't due to Kirsten's cooking, as the untouched food had so often represented in the past.

"That probably wasn't such a great idea then, was it?"

"You've had better."

"Maybe we should just call up again. Waiting isn't actually our strongest point."

"Not really."

Sandy grabbed the phone and dialled the number that would now be permanently etched into their minds.

After getting an automatic response and listening to the different options to be transferred to different sections of the embassy. Surprisingly, there was no option for 'press 3 if your loved ones have recently been in a plane crash and you're unaware of their condition.' But eventually they got through to an actual human being, who was able to direct them to where they needed to go.

"Can you repeat the names please?"

"Marissa Atwood and Ryan Atwood."

"We have a Marissa Cooper here."

"Yeah that'd be her. She probably hasn't had a chance to change her name yet."

"OK. We have an update on their condition. They've both been taken to St Bartholomew's Hospital."

"We know that. Do you have any new news?"

"According to these files, and bear in mind the situation may have changed since these records were sent over. There were a lot of passengers and it is still very hectic in all the hospitals."

"OK."

"We have here that Ryan Atwood has suffered multiple broken bones and is being operated on for internal bleeding. Marissa Cooper has suffered more serious injuries to the head and is in a coma."

"Oh god, is she alright?"

"I'm sorry sir but that's the only information we have at this time. Maybe in another hour or so we'll have more information."

"Will the hospital have more information of we call them?"

"No, the hospitals are flooded and it's unlikely you'll get through to anyone who can help you. It's best to call through this number."

"Thanks for your help."

Sandy relayed the information to the others who were understandably devastated. Internal bleeding, head injuries, coma, those didn't sound good at all. In fact they sounded horrible. And since they weren't there, they couldn't judge it for themselves. So they had no idea of the degree of seriousness of the injuries, and had no idea of knowing if their friends were going to be OK.

But at least they were still alive.

Seth suddenly shocked the others by darting out of the room and shutting himself inside the pool house. They left him alone for a while, but after quite a bit of time passed, Summer had to go in and check on him. He had been so strong for everyone all day and maybe he couldn't handle it anymore. Maybe everything had gotten to be too much. Maybe Summer was going to have to be the strong one this time.

She tentatively opened the door and stepped inside the dark room. Seth was sitting on the corner of the bed, head in his hands. He cut a lonely figure, one which reminded Summer of his teenage years.

"Hey Cohen."

She sat right down beside him and took his hands in hers. They sat quietly for a while, and Summer moved over so she was sitting very close, and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Do you want to talk?"

"Not really."

Knowing Seth as well as she did, she could tell that this wasn't the case.

"Are you sure?"

"It's just… Ryan was the first and only real friend I had in Newport for a long time. He's my brother. And you know I love you more than anything, but I don't know what I'd do without him; without Ryan and Marissa, who, with you, make up the people I'm closest to in the whole world."

"I know."

"It's fucked up. There'll be people on that plane who have assaulted old ladies, and hurt their pets and cheated the government out of money. Ryan and Marissa are good people, great people, and they're the one's lying in hospital beds on the other side of the world. And we don't even know if they're OK."

He turned away and angrily wiped a tear from his eye. Summer squeezed his hand tighter and turned his face to look at her.

"What happened to Ryan and Marissa being strong?"

"It doesn't mean they can overcome anything."

"I think they can. You need to keep being strong so I don't fall apart. The lady from the embassy said they were still alive and that's all we need to hear right now, alright?"

He reluctantly nodded and she kissed him softly.

"You know, I don't really get to see this side of you very much; normally you're the one making sure I'm OK."

"Well it is like a full time job."

Summer saw this lame attempt at a joke and knew that he was going to be fine. "There you go. Now let's go back inside; I'm sure Noah's anxious to see his daddy. Who knows what form of Grease singing he's being subjected to right now."

They stood up and held hands tightly as they walked back into the main house. Sandy and Kirsten didn't ask any questions, but when Seth was looking the other way, Summer gave Kirsten a quick nod to show that he was alright; or at least hanging in there.

Now the only thing to do was to wait for another call and hope for the best.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

_Ryan woke up in a strange, unfamiliar setting. He was covered in tubes and there were several machines beeping in the background. He felt dull, manageable pain all over his body. That was good for the ten seconds it lasted._

_Suddenly, he was gripped with a sharp, indescribable pain centring in his stomach before rippling out to other parts of his body. He grunted in pain and a nurse walked into the room._

_"Are you OK sir?"_

_Ryan mentioned he was in a lot of pain and she increased his painkillers. The strength of the medication was enough to knock him straight out, so he basically had no idea of what was happening around him. _

_One thought was consistently running through his head, however, which even the medication couldn't block out._

_Where was Marissa? _


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, character or concepts of the OC

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, character or concepts of the OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**A/N: Thank you for your reviews everyone! And thanks to people who reminded me to update; it really makes me wake up and motivates me to continue writing (so do reviews). I really am trying my hardest to get new chapters up, but I am very busy and hope you understand why reviews are taking a little longer.**

**Once holidays come, I'll be writing chapters faster than you can read them! **

**Thanks and enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 20: AN ARRIVAL OF SORTS**

Summer stood at the airport and anxiously awaited the arrivals. She had been waiting for this moment for so long and now it was actually here, she couldn't really believe it.

Next to her stood Seth, holding Noah, marvelling at how heavy he now was. They decided not to go to all the trouble of packing the stroller into the car, but after a while he definitely strained Seth's meagre arms.

Noah was blissfully unaware of what was happening; he was now nine months old and loved making sounds wherever he went. He bounced enthusiastically in Seth's arms and went on talking nonsense to himself, and Summer found it so funny that he was acting exactly like Seth. He had crazy corkscrew curls all over his head, and those hazel brown eyes Summer knew so well. And as much as Seth liked to pretend it wasn't true, Noah really was the spitting image of his daddy. And Summer got jealous sometimes, that he looked so much like Seth, but then she looked at him blabbering away with his curls in his face and nobody listening to him, and knew it was just cuter that he was exactly like Seth. It was just the way it was supposed to be.

The arrivals television screen suddenly highlighted that the plane had arrived from Heathrow airport. That meant they should be here shortly. Seth and Summer shot each other a significant look, before waiting for them to arrive. It was after all, a very big day.

Seth thought back to the worst day, three months before. The day they found out Marissa and Ryan had been in a plane crash, and they didn't know whether they had survived or not.

After that first day, it had gotten a little better. They had found out that they had both survived, although both had sustained serious injuries. The worst part about it was they couldn't go over to London and see for themselves the condition of their best friends. Seth had used up all his leave taking care of the baby, and it just wasn't practical, no matter how much they wanted to leave their responsibilities behind to go see them.

Sandy and Kirsten had gone over, and kept them updated, but the first week was torture. Marissa was in a coma, and the doctors didn't know whether she'd come out of it or not. Summer could still remember the day that news was delivered.

_Summer was sitting on the lounge reading a baby book to Noah, who was resting comfortably on his back, surrounding by an island of pillows. The phone rang and she answered, knowing who it would be._

_It was Kirsten. As soon as she heard her normally soothing voice breaking up in sobs, Summer knew something bad had happened; something really bad._

_Kirsten had told her that the doctors didn't know whether Marissa would survive the extent of her injuries, and Summer should probably say goodbye just in case. Kirsten held the phone up to Marissa's ear, although Marissa was deeply unconscious and was probably unaware what was happening._

_"Hey Coop. You can't die on me OK? I know you can pull through this, I've seen you pull through so much before and I need you here with me. Seth needs you and Noah needs his cool auntie, and you can't die OK?" Summer by this stage had lost it, and was openly sobbing as she tried to get through to the end of her message. "I love you so so so much, you're my closest friend in the whole world, and we need you here. I'm sorry if I ever hurt you, but don't do this to me; don't do this to Ryan. He loves you more than life itself, and he wouldn't know what to do without you. If you don't do it for me, do it for him. I love you Coop. You're my best ever friend and I'll never forget that, but I need you to pull through this."_

_It wasn't a goodbye message, but Summer couldn't handle saying goodbye to Marissa Cooper, not after so much, and especially not over the phone. She thought about flying over to London at that stage, and even started packing a suitcase, but she needed to stay with Seth, so they could both pull through it together._

Luckily, Summer didn't have to say goodbye to Marissa. She had pulled through it and woken from her coma, although suffering memory land concentration loss. They were of course devastated that so many significant memories of the past had been lost, but the most important thing was that both of them survived.

After the initial two weeks of not knowing what would happen, Marissa woke up. Summer cried with joy that day when she got the news, right in the middle of the supermarket. After that, Ryan was rushed in for an emergency surgery for a collapsed lung, and Marissa had a subdural haemorrhage operated on, but slowly things improved.

Marissa and Ryan got a room together, and they could spend their days talking to each other instead of staring at a blank wall. Marissa regained most of her memory, but there were still patches where she went weeks without knowing what had happened. Perhaps most shattering to Ryan was that she couldn't remember their wedding, as it was so close to the accident. Summer and Seth had planned a little surprise to deal with that, but the foremost thing to worry about was greeting them when they got off that plane. Sandy and Kirsten were back in Newport, so it was Seth and Summer coming to greet them when they came through JFK airport, before Ryan had to spend some time with some apparently famous New York physician, to work on Ryan's stuffed knee.

All of a sudden there was a flurry of excitement as the gate doors opened and people started crowding towards the door, and people started pouring through the exit. They weren't expecting Ryan and Marissa first; they would take their time, but it was so close now.

Ryan was the first one through the door. He was on crutches, about to undergo a knee reconstruction but preferring to wait until he got back to the United States so he could spend the recovery time with Summer and Seth.

Marissa was the next one through, looking very thin and frail, having lost a lot of weight in those first two weeks. Summer had already heard this from Kirsten, and had planned on fixing her up with some high calorie meals to get her weight back on track. It was just unnatural. She had a scar running along her hairline, which most would not notice, but Summer knew was new because she had grown up with Coop and knew everything about her.

Summer ran over to Marissa and gave her the biggest hug of her life, careful not to crush her too much though, because she was still recovering.

Seth walked over to Ryan and hugged him as well; not just a man hug but a proper hug, a brother hug because that's what he was.

"I can't believe you're OK! I was so worried." Summer was talking a million miles a minute, but no one seemed to mind.

"You knew we were OK. We've talked on the phone remember? And Sandy and Kirsten kept you pretty up to date."

"But I had to see for myself. You guys look great."

"Thanks Summ, but what about the scar? And how gaunt I am. I look horrible."

"No you don't, you look like a survivor. And you too Atwood."

She ran over to him and gave him a big kiss on the cheek, before Ryan picked her up and spun her round. He was so glad that he had gained enough strength to do that again, and was so in awe of how spending two minutes with Summer's bubbly attitude could improve his mood which had been temperamental to say the least.

They went over to the baggage rack but Summer wouldn't let Marissa or Ryan help out; she left Noah with Seth, and then went to do the hard slogging by herself. She knew she was more valuable than Seth anyway.

Nobody could get a word in on the car trip home, everyone wanting to talk and ask questions and hear stories. Even Noah wouldn't shut up, having reached that stage where he had to be speaking (or more precisely making sounds) every second of the day. Summer only hoped he would grow out of that like his dad never had.

Once Ryan and Marissa were settled into the guest room after they got home, and Summer had made some lunch and Seth had fed Noah his bottle, they were ready for the hard conversation to start.

Ryan talked about the day he had first been allowed out of his bed to visit Marissa. He was wheeled into to her room and the first thing he saw was the deep gash on her forehead, the bruises all over her body; she looked like she was sleeping. But Ryan knew she wasn't just sleeping; he couldn't wake her up if he wanted to, and she wouldn't have had all the tubes if she was just sleeping.

He was wheeled beside her and started stroking her hair, which was greasy and filled with tiny shards of debris, which no one had even washed out. He kissed her cheek and felt the tears run down his own. There was no need to speak, he just wanted to sit next to her. If he could give his own life to see her wake up, he would have. At that moment, there was nothing he wouldn't do to see her eyes open.

Summer was in tears by the end of the recollection, but the serious talk was just starting. They couldn't just leave the subject untold though; the only way to get over things was to talk about them. Ryan had been told that by a grief counsellor who was brought in a week after the crash. Ryan wasn't really talking and was rarely away from Marissa's bedside. Kirsten was worried about him, and surprisingly, the grief counsellor worked and Ryan was able to talk about what he was going through.

After all the serious talk was over and Noah was fast asleep in Marissa's arms, the fun and games could begin. Seth got out the trusty old playstation and set up a game of grand theft auto for old time's sake. Just like they'd been doing since high school, Summer and Marissa gossiped on the lounge and Ryan and Seth got very into their game. Only this time their was a baby in the picture and so much had happened that had scarred everyone in the room, that it was never going to be the same as it was before.

After everyone had left to go to their respective bedrooms, Summer and Seth lay in bed together thinking about their day.

"Summ, you don't have to worry about Ryan and Marissa anymore. You saw them and they're fine."

"But they're not fine. Did you see how fragile Marissa looked? She's always been so strong. And Chino just doesn't look the same on crutches, having to be taken care of instead of taking care of others."

"They're going to be just fine. And did you see Marissa with Noah? I reckon they'll be having a baby of their own sometime soon."

"But not until after our surprise I hope. It's gonna be awesome."

"Cos our plans always are."

Summer settled down and closed her eyes, but felt Seth start to trace light kisses along her neck.

"Stop it Cohen, I'm tired."

"You won't be when I'm finished with you."

"And our best friends are down the hall."

"And you think they don't know what married couples do?"

"And what about Noah?

"He's had a big day, he'll be sleeping like a baby. Well, obviously."

He continued to kiss her, slowly moving down to other areas of her body.

"Cohen…" Summer used her whiniest voice but it didn't seem to have any effect on him.

"Summ, you know on the inside I'm still a sixteen year old boy, I have needs."

She rolled over and started laughing, deciding to give in to the moment that she knew she would love so much.

After all, she could always sleep later.

**A/N: For those who want more SS, its coming! I promise you, writing SS is my favourite and I think you'll like the next few chapters.**

**Also, Would you like me to write more stories once this one is done? Y/N? Also, if you have any suggestions about storylines, let me know!**


	22. Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, concepts or characters of the OC

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the original plots, concepts or characters of the OC. Everything else is all mine!**

**A/N: I know; another long wait between updates! But I'm trying hard, and school finishes in two weeks, so I'm all yours then. (And the lack of reviews for last chap didn't inspire me to write super fast).**

**But thanks to everyone who did review; you are all my heroes, and this is totally for you.**

**Read and enjoy! And please please please review (I'm extremely needy)**

**CHAPTER 21: Back to Normal?**

Was there any better way to wake up in the morning?

Summer sat up feeling warm and snuggly with her quilt pulled up right around her arms and shoulders. She heard Seth's footsteps in the corridor and was pleasantly surprised when she saw he was carrying two coffee mugs in his hands.

"Hey sweetie, what are you doing awake?"

"I guess it just happens when you're not tired."

He kissed her on the nose, but pulled away when she went to drag him down into bed next to her.

"What are you doing?"

"I'll be back."

Summer was left in peace with her coffee and allowed the warm liquid to flow into her body and get her ready for another day.

True to his word, Seth returned a few minutes later, this time carrying Noah, who was still waking up. He lay him down on Summer's chest and climbed in bed beside Summer, cuddling up nice and close.

It was a bit of a Sunday ritual now. Ever since Seth had returned to work, and especially after Ryan and Marissa had gone back to Newport, they had decided that they couldn't become one of those couples who only spoke briefly in the mornings and never got to see each other. They were going to make time as a family, and Sundays were set aside for couple time. If Seth wanted to do something with his work friends he could, as long as it was on a Saturday or after work. And by Sunday, Summer and Seth were desperate to spend time with each other anyway. He was kept so busy by work, and Summer was kept so busy by Noah, that they barely got to spend time together during the week. Sunday was all theirs.

"So what's on the agenda for today?"

"I was thinking maybe the park; you know how Noah loves the swing."

"And it is a very special day for Noah, isn't it." Seth watched Summer bouncing Noah's arms up and down as he was sitting on her lap, causing him to giggle and squeal.

"It's a very special day, isn't it Noah. It's your birthday!"

Obviously Noah didn't really have much idea of what a birthday was, but he was such a happy baby that he smiled and laughed as much as possible, and today was no different.

Summer and Seth sang a very enthusiastic version of 'Happy Birthday', while Noah watched on in amazement. He was very used to his parents singing, especially Seth early in the morning when they were making breakfast together (or Noah watching Seth make breakfast) but he wasn't used to his parents singing together. He could get used to this.

Seth got Noah's presents out from under the bed; all neatly wrapped in bright blue patterned paper, even though Noah couldn't open them himself.

Together, they unwrapped the substantial amount of presents, from a teddy named McDreamy (Summer couldn't get enough of Grey's Anatomy), to several toys and mobiles for his already overcrowded room that was full of so many toys you could barely walk. He also got a bunch of new clothes, which he didn't seem as excited about, and a brand new fuzzy white blanket. But his most favourite present was a little plastic toy horse, blue with a green mane, which they would let Noah name when he was old enough. When the presents were over, Summer played peek-a-boo with Noah; a game which he loved, and Seth made breakfast.

They then went to the park near their house; Noah in a cute little stroller that was surrounded by wool to keep him warm in the chilly winter. With Seth's help, Noah could stand up and walk across the sandpit, with his small, stubby, uncoordinated steps, not helped by the fact he was covered in so many layers of clothing. His face was almost hidden by a hooded jacket, with only a stray curl peeping out onto his forehead.

Summer sat on the park bench and watched her two boys playing, as she talked to the other mums at the park. When Seth got tired, they slowly walked home, wading through the snow that had covered the ground throughout the night. The weather was really cooling down and it was very close to Chrismukah, where they would be going back to warm, sunny Newport.

When they reached their home again, Noah was just about asleep, and once he was changed out of his big, bulky snowsuit, he was dead to the world. Which meant alone time for Summer and Seth, the first in almost a week.

They flopped on the couch together, with Summer resting her head on Seth's chest.

"What do we do now?"

Seth started lightly stroking Summer's hair, and manoeuvred himself so they were laying down together side by side.

"Let's just lay here. Watch a movie. I'm already tired."

"Me too. Noah can really tire me out; and I don't even know why."

"I know what you mean. But he's awesome."

"The most perfect thing I've ever been a part of." Seth turned around again, so they were face to face, and they lay like that for a while; just enjoying the closeness and intimacy of it all. Then Summer spoke up.

"Do you want another one?"

"Another baby?"

"Yeah."

"I've definitely thought about it. I think we should, at some stage."

"I really want a girl."

"Mmm, a mini Summer; that would be nice." Summer smiled and leaned into his chest; little words like that always made her so happy. They just came out from the middle of nowhere and even though she knew Seth loved her, they really reaffirmed this and put her in a good mood.

"I definitely want another baby at some stage; in a year or two. I just didn't know how much it would change my life. I mean, I love Noah so so much, and I just didn't know it could be possible to love someone or something _that _much."

"I did." Seth said it so simply it almost made Summer cry.

"Well of course I love you like crazy. You and Noah are my whole world. But it was the second I saw him; the very second and I knew I could never be away from him."

"And you don't feel that way about me?"

"Of course I do. I barely lasted a month without you when you went on that business thing. It's both of you."

"I know." He was just teasing her, and they both knew it.

Summer made a notion to move, and when Seth inquired where she was going, she said she was cold and needed a hot shower to warm up.

"Don't go anywhere. I can warm you up!" He completely surrounded her with his arms and legs, deliberately breathing into her neck so his hot breath would warm her up, but she still wasn't convinced.

"You can always come with me if you want."

Before she had finished her words, Seth was up and on his way to the shower. But Summer totally understood where he was coming from as well. Without anyone they really knew who could take Noah when they wanted to be alone, he was always there, and as much as they loved him to death, it meant that they didn't get to spend as much time together as they would like.

And shower time together was probably Seth's favourite.

When they came out an hour later, dripping wet and definitely warmed up (they had the baby monitor with them so they knew Noah was fine), they were feeling better than they had in a long time.

"Hey Cohen, I have an idea."

"What?"

"Let's go right into the city tonight; go see the Christmas tree and the ice skating and go out for dinner. I mean, we're going back to Newport in two days time and I don't want to miss it."

"Of course we can. Whatever you want today."

Summer was grateful and lent over to kiss him; her towel getting dangerously close to falling. Seth, picking up on this, said,

"God I love our Sundays."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"It's so beautiful."

Summer was staring out at the beautiful Christmas tree towering over everything. She was holding Noah, in his massive snowsuit, beanie and gloves, his cheeks red from the cold.

"But I can't wait to get out of this cold." Seth was shivering like crazy, his meagre frame not able to keep as much warmth in as he would have liked.

"I thought you wanted real weather, real people."

"I've had real weather and I don't like it. What's the point of being so cold you can't even feel your own toes? I'd much rather go to Newport and be able to move my fingers in that incredibly fake world."

"What about real people?"

"Real people have problems. Newport doesn't have problems. It's just fake."

"I miss Newport too."

"Who said anything about missing it?"

"Cohen..."

"OK, I miss Newport. I miss Chrismukah in the mansion. New York doesn't even have Chrismukah; Judaism is severely underrepresented."

"Aww sweetie. Think about Noah – he's the Chrismukah of the future."

Seth took Noah out of Summer's arms and snuggled him close.

"Hear that Noah? Carrying on the Cohen family name. You should be proud."

"Way to scare him for life."

Seth put his arm around Summer and they started walking towards the taxi rank. The next week was going to be extremely busy.

When they got home and put Noah to bed, they both got in their warm pyjamas – Summer's a giant sweatshirt of Seth's and sweats, Seth with daggy old grandpa checked pyjamas. They watched the evening news, before turning the television off. Parenthood was hard work, and after all, it was almost 10 o'clock.

As they lay together in the darkness, Seth brought up the conversation they were having earlier in the day.

"You know what we were talking about earlier?"

"Real weather; I'm totally thinking that too, it's freezing in here."

"No, the other thing. The kid thing."

"Yeah. What about it?" Summer turned around to face Seth, hoping to God that this wouldn't be a revelation of an illegitimate child somewhere around the world – that would be a great surprise – 'hey Summ you know how I went on that business trip; I actually have a child from that trip and they're coming to live with us. Surprise!' As if.

"I was thinking that we should do it. Soon. Like in a month or so. What do you think?"

"That soon?"

"Why not. Noah's so much fun and I want him to have someone close in age. And besides, Noah's going into day care after Chrismukkah and I don't want you to get lazy. I think a light spot of child birth and rearing will do you good."

Summer slapped him in the arm, which he so deserved, but wasn't really thinking about that. She was thinking about what he just said. Sure a month sounded pretty soon to start trying for another baby, but was it really too soon? She did love Noah more than anything else ever, and would love another baby, maybe a girl she could dress up and buy special clothes for. And she knew everything was great with her and Seth; better than it had been in ages. The more she thought about it, the more it sounded like just the right time. A month or so would be the perfect opportunity to have baby Cohen number 2.

"Summ, still with me?"

"Huh? Yeah, totally. I was just thinking about what you said. I totally agree."

"You do?"

"Mm-hmm. It was actually a pretty smart idea for once Cohen."

He started kissing her madly on her face and collarbone, hitting some rather sensitive spots that made Summer squirm.

"Well this is an iconic day in the Cohen household. I think we need to celebrate."

He continued to kiss her neck, leading slowly downwards, while his hand travelled further south; hitting some very sensitive spots indeed. Once he had toyed with her waistband long enough to get the desired reaction from her, it was time to remove her pants completely. What was the use of them anyway?

As Summer gave in most completely to Seth's "practice" as he would call it for the coming months, she thought about having a sibling for Noah. They would truly be the perfect family. And with the busy week coming up, with the surprise for Marissa and Noah's first Newport Chrismukkah, she would need to build up all the "practice" she could.

**Quick A/N: I haven't forgotten about Marissa's surprise, or her and Ryan, but this was a chapter for pure SS lovers (including me). And there are about 4 chapters (?) left, so if you want something included, let me know!**


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: I don't really have much to say right now

**A/N: I don't really have much to say right now. **

**Only thanks a billion trillion to everyone who has reviewed so far; this chapter and every one after it is for you.**

**Also, I have written most (?) of the next chapter, so I'm willing to post it fairly soon, if you all review!**

**Thanks and enjoy!!**

**CHAPTER 22: Home Sweet Home**

How great was it to be in Newport again. As soon as Summer stepped off the plane and felt the warm air and the sunshine on her face she was hooked. It was like a drug that left her wanting more every time she was around it. And she missed it more and more every time she went back to New York.

They got a taxi to Sandy and Kirsten's house and walked inside, not knowing they would be greeted by only the caterers preparing everything for their Newport party that night. Sandy and Kirsten had some last minute grandson Chrismukkah shopping to attend to, and since they knew the catering company so well (they had only catered for the last 3000 events) they could be left to their own devices.

"Guess what Noah. Home in time for a Newport party. Now while your mummy is off working the crowd we can quietly mock everyone else! Yay!" Seth was holding on to Noah's chubby hands and waving them around in the air, before a surprisingly grumpy Summer scolded him.

"Cohen, I don't want our son to turn out as socially retarded as you are. He's going to enjoy parties and speak to people, not just mock them behind their backs. Just because you're a social freak doesn't mean your perfect son will be."

"Come on, that's why you love me."

"Not at the moment."

"Aww, you're just cranky after a long flight. Why didn't you take a nap?" 

"Because you went to sleep as soon as we took off and left me to take care of Noah and his sensitive ears. And maybe I will go to the pool house and have a sleep. God knows you won't let me get any tonight."

"Damn straight woman. We'll be dancing the night away, just to show you I'm not socially retarded."

"Fine." Summer stomped off to the pool house without any of their suitcases, grumpy and probably with the beginnings of a rage blackout (for no apparent reason).

Once she had left the room, Seth put Noah down in the crib set up by his doting grandparents and set about the challenge of getting their luggage into the pool house before Summer went to sleep. If he woke her up, he feared for his own life – or at least his ability to help make that second baby they were thinking about.

Making sure Noah was occupied (not hard for a baby who thought the coolest thing ever was watching a teddy bear) he grabbed everything in one go and took it into their makeshift home for the next week.

"What do you want?"

Obviously Summer was still grumpy. The thirty seconds by herself hadn't calmed her down.

"I'm just putting everything away. Don't you worry your pretty little head about it."

Summer turned away so she wasn't facing him, and Seth wanted to get out of there before Summer's eyes burst into flames and she exploded his face or something. He could just see some epic X-Men scene about to unfold. And he thought her rage blackouts had become less of a problem. Apparently they just came further apart but with added intensity when they did happen. He didn't even know what had triggered this one. She should be happy they were back in Newport.

"Alright, bye Summ." He risked walking over to where she was, and bent down, swiftly kissing her lips as he rested his hand on the sensitive skin on her side, lingering his touch there for a little longer than he needed. "Love you."

She didn't say anything but Seth just knew that she would be trying to fight a small smile from appearing on her grumpy face. She loved it when he did that.

A little while after he got back into the house, Sandy and Kirsten arrived.

"Seth! I wish I'd known you came a bit early; we would have rushed home!"

"It's OK mum. We just got here. But Summer's grumpy so I've put her down for a nap." He smiled his charming lopsided smile, and held Noah towards his parents so they wouldn't pick him up on his fairly demeaning comment. "Look how big your grandson is getting."

That distracted them for a while and he took the time to get re-acquainted with the Chrismukkah decorations he had barely noticed when he came in. Then he just had to wait for the party to begin.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Cohen, you should have told me your parents were home; I would have come out."

Summer had just emerged, two hours after having shut herself in the pool house and away from the world. She had managed to touch up her make-up and change clothes though, to make a good impression on her in-laws. She walked straight over to where Seth, Sandy and Kirsten were sort of crowded around the island bench in the kitchen having coffee – Seth sitting on the bar stool, Kirsten holding Noah and Sandy leaning against the bench. Even though there was a spare seat next to Seth, she sat right down on his lap, wrapping her arm around her neck for support.

Seth leant right in close to Summer's ear and whispered, "What's this for?"

"Because I can. Are you objecting?" Seth's hand was already snaked on Summer's thigh, and he placed a quick kiss on the side of her head to show that he most definitely did not disapprove.

"So Sandy, Kirsten, what's been going on?"

For the next hour, they caught up on all the news and gossip in Newport. It seemed that every time they came back it was just a little crazier.

Then, before they knew it, it was time to get ready for the party. And since Summer hadn't seen a lot of people in ages (their last visit was fairly reclusive), she wanted to make a good impression – in other words, she wanted to look hot.

She used all the hot water in the pool house and hogged the bathroom for over an hour, perfecting her hair and make-up. But when she came out, it was worth it.

Her hair was pulled back in a bun with loose curls hanging down; she had gone for natural looking make-up with a bit of smoky eyes. She had also chosen Seth's most favourite dress. The white one with the silver detailing; the one that clung and fell in all the right places. Seth couldn't help dropping his jaw a little bit, but quickly regained his composure as she started walking towards him. Obviously over her little rage blackout, she started teasing him.

"What are you looking at Cohen? This?" She stealthily heightened the amount of exposed skin from the slit on the dress up her leg.

"What are you talking about woman?" But he knew there was no point arguing here. He was completely whipped and in awe of his wife, and he couldn't hide it, no matter how hard he tried.

"What about now?" Summer closed the distance between them, very slowly snaking her arms around his neck and allowing her exposed skin to brush up against his bare leg (he was in the middle of getting changed himself). He shivered involuntarily but pulled away, showing he had some self-control, although another part of him was proving that he didn't really have a lot of self-control after all.

"Save it for the dance floor."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"You look lovely Summer. You've obviously lost that weight you've been carrying since last time I saw you."

"Thanks Diana. And that wasn't fat; that was post-baby weight."

"Well it's done wonders for your figure. If you want to lose those last five pounds I can put you onto a great personal trainer."

"How kind of you, but I live in New York."

Diana walked away; her new face making it impossible to show any emotion. Seth, by this stage having quite a few too many drinks without remembering what a lightweight he was, was getting quite loud and rambunctious.

"Hey Summ, do you want me to tell her what an old bitch she is?"

"No Cohen, that's all right. How about we just put you to bed."

"I want to dance. Come dance with me baby." He swirled her around and grabbed another glass of champagne from the nearby waiter. "Want some?" Summer shook her head and said,

"Cohen, we can't dance if you're holding a drink. Why don't we come back to it later?"

What she actually didn't want was Seth to get any drunker than he already was. He was pretty funny but he was going to have to nurse his hangover on Chrismukkah. At least he wasn't being socially awkward when he was off his face.

"Are you coming baby?" Seth had dumped his drink and was ready to go; dragging Summer along with him.

They assumed their perfect little dancing position; her head nestled under his, her arms around his neck, and his around her waist. Only this time, Seth was gently breathing down on her with his alcohol fuelled breath, making her experience slightly less pleasurable. Seth's hand travelled down from her waist and rested on her butt, but she moved it back up, not wanting things to progress any further when all his family was around. After all, they weren't teenagers anymore. They were proper, respectable parents, or they should at least act tat way in public.

Seth moved his head down so it was next to her ear and whispered,

"Do you know how much I love you?"

"Yep. You got that one covered Cohen."

"So much. So fucking much. You're my baby."

"Thanks sweetie."

"I'm serious. You're the best."

"Am I really?"

"You're the greatest ever. And I think I'm a little bit drunk right now."

"Maybe just a little."

"But it doesn't mean I don't love you."

"OK. Got it. Lets dance some more, OK?"

Summer wrapped her arms more tightly around his neck and felt he was doing the same. At least no matter how drunk Seth was, one thing was always the same; he was a pretty mean slow dancer.

A little while later, Sandy and Kirsten came over to join them, both watching the steadily drunker Seth make some very obvious dirty talk with Summer which she was completely choosing to ignore.

"Mum! Dad! I'm so glad you came over here."

"Thanks son. I haven't heard you this enthusiastic in years."

"I'm a bit drunk but. Are you mad?"

"No, it's fine Seth."

"Good, cos I love you guys!"

By this stage, the party was mostly wound up, so not many people were there to witness Seth's hilarious behaviour.

Kirsten pulled Summer aside and said,

"Put Noah inside for tonight, in the room next to ours; the cot's set up. I don't want Seth to want to deal with his screaming when he wakes up tomorrow."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, we haven't seen him in ages anyway."

"Thanks Kirsten." Kirsten then surprised her by giving her a big hug, but it was welcomed; she was like her mum anyway.

They walked back over to the main group where Seth was doing his best Spiderman impersonation for the crowd. Kirsten went and carried a soundly sleeping Noah to the upstairs bedroom, and Summer enlisted the help of Ryan and Marissa to move Seth into the poolhouse.

"Hey buddy, hows it going? Are you ready to move?"

"I'm so good man. So good! Hey Coop, do you know what tomorrow is?"

Summer shot a horrified look at Ryan, worried Seth was about to reveal their secret.

"Uhh, its Chrismukkah."

"But its also something else!"

Summer quickly shepherded him into the pool house, leaving Ryan to talk to a confused Marissa and tell her it was just cos Seth was off his face.

"Baby was I sposed to not tell?" Seth was standing on the bed, dangling his tie from one hand.

"That's OK Cohen. How about you go to sleep?"

"I don't want to sleep; I want to do other things. With you." He went to kiss her lips but missed, and messily kissed her ear.

"Alright, I'll be back in a second."

Knowing full well Seth would be passed out when she went back into the pool house, she said her goodbyes to everyone and apologised for her husband ruining the mood. Then she returned to where Seth was, and sure enough, he was collapsed on the bed, still in his nice suit.

Summer did the good wife thing and pulled off his shoes and socks, and was pulling down his pants when he suddenly moved.

"Summ! Lets have sex!" It must have sounded romantic in his mind, but it came out sort of weird and creepy.

"Maybe later. It's almost Chrismukkah, we need our sleep."

Seth started fumbling unsuccessfully at the zip on the side of Summer's dress, kissing up and down her arm.

"Summ, I love drunk sex with you."

"Will you remember it tomorrow?"

"You're unforgettable." He smiled a big cheesy smile to show how romantic he was being, and Summer got caught up in the moment. She loved his cheesy romantic sayings. And anyway, tomorrow was Chrismukkah, the most important and romantic day of the year except for Valentine's Day. Why not get caught up in the mood?

**A/N: So this was kind of a filler chapter, but next chapter is the surprise. Any guesses to what it might be? Also, I only have 3 chapters left planned, so if anyone wants to tell me how they think it should end, I'd love it.**

**Thanks guys!**


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, sorry this took longer than I said it would to update, but I got caught by all the studying o

**A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, sorry this took longer than I said it would to update, but I got caught by all the studying or exams. That's all through now, so expect updates coming hard and fast.**

**Thanks, enjoy and review!!**

**CHAPTER 23: ANOTHER MIRACLE and SUMMER SAVES CHRISMUKKAH ONCE MORE**

Seth Cohen woke up in the very familiar house of his childhood with a very big headache and the gnawing sensation that something had happened last night that he shouldn't be too proud of. Then it all came back to him and he realised why he had the throbbing headache. He was hung over. And he had been very drunk the night before.

He turned over to see where Summer was, and groaned as he opened his eyes and the light streamed in. Summer was sitting over on the chair by the window, reading and just waiting for Seth to wake up.

"Did I really do the spiderman?" Seth sat up and regretted the decision.

"You really did." Summer stood up and went over to the kitchenette, bringing him back some much needed coffee. After a quick kiss, Seth noticed on what was going on outside. It was raining.

He was so used to rain and bad weather in New York that at first he just accepted it; then he realised that it was Newport and it never rained; especially not on Chrismukkah! And then Seth realised that rain on this day would almost certainly ruin their surprise for Marissa.

"It's raining."

"Mmmm." Summer really wasn't as shocked as he was.

"It'll ruin the surprise."

"No it won't; it'll be so romantic Cohen. Don't you remember our most romantic moment?"

"How could I forget? The kiss in the rain. The best day ever. But are you sure it won't ruin this surprise?"

"Yep. Trust me Cohen, have I ever let you down? Now let's go and see our baby. It's Chrismukkah!"

Once Seth was dressed and smelled decent, they entered the main house, where Sandy was reading Noah a story on his lap. Obviously not having any of Noah's clothes, he was still in his cute little spiderman pyjamas, and looked adorable. Once he was dressed in his mini reindeer jumper, and everyone had eaten, it was time for Ryan and Marissa to come over.

"Do you think we should move it inside?"

"No, outside will be super fun. Kirsten, what did the caterers say?"

"They're all ready and they know they have to be discreet. Once we're outside, they'll come in and they know not to make a scene."

"And how about Taylor, Jimmy, Julie, Frank (who was re-united with Ryan when he got out of jail) and all the others?"

"They know to hide in the pool house. It's all taken care of."

"OK then, let's get ready."

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Once all the presents were open (no guessing who got the most), Sandy made up a lame excuse that he wanted photos of everyone outside. Marissa, wearing a very stylish lime green trench coat and stripy gum boots followed Ryan, in his signature wife beater and jeans, only instead of his old school favourite wrist cuff, he was wearing a wedding band. Things had certainly changed in the past ten years.

"Hey Sandy, why are we taking photos outside? It is raining."

"It only rains in Newport once every five years. Might as well make the most of it."

Since everyone (except Seth and Summer, now accustomed to New York real weather) was so unused to the rain, they all brought their big umbrellas out with them, as if a little rain would make them melt.

"And why are we taking the photos out the front instead of near the pool?"

"Just the light, it's a bit too dark out the back."

After posing for a few minutes, with Summer looking behind her every few seconds to see if stuff was happening out the back, Marissa went to go inside. Since Ryan, and everyone else, knew their surprise wouldn't be ready yet, he pulled her down onto his lap, much to her surprise.

"What's that for?" By this stage, everyone could tell Marissa was getting a little suspicious, so Ryan made up a very long, rambling excuse to take up as much time as possible. Then, when they finally thought the coast was clear, they went back inside.

"Hey Coop, come with me to the pool house, I need to show you the cutest jacket I got last week." Now Summer needed to steer Marissa towards the pool house so she would end up outside and right where she was supposed to be.

"Aren't we about to eat?"

"It'll only take a second."

"Whatever."

They walked on through the house to the back door, with everyone else following (attempting to be inconspicuous) a little bit behind.

When Marissa looked out the glass door, she nearly fainted with what she saw. Twenty or so chairs had magically appeared on the terrace next to the pool, with a flower covered arch at the front of the chairs. And there were people everywhere. Jimmy and Julie were sitting in the front row, with Kaitlyn next to them, looking a little wasted. Taylor and all the rest of Ryan and Marissa's really close friends were behind them, and Frank was sitting near the back with his weird friend Bullit, who was apparently some super rich Texan oil tycoon. Or something like that.

And at the front of the guests was a minister.

"Surprise." Summer smiled widely at Marissa, who looked extremely confused.

"I know you already had a beautiful wedding. But you don't remember it, and I know you wanted an awesome wedding since kindergarten. So here it is. Your very own second ceremony, just like all the celebrities!"

"Wh-what, how… how did you plan all this?"

"It's called long-distance phone calls; they work really well these days. And with a lot of help from Kirsten and Ryan."

"Don't be so modest Summer," Kirsten chimed in, "she pretty much organised it herself. For someone so small she can be surprisingly scary barking orders over the phone."

Marissa, with everything finally sinking in, started to smile. She looked over at Ryan, who was waiting expectantly for an answer, or some form of acknowledgment. Marissa walked over to him and hugged him, whispering thank you into his ear. It was the perfect Christmukkah present.

"Let's do it then." Summer was anxious for her big finale to come together and finally happen. But first there was a quick dash to the bathroom to check that the make-up was still OK. Summer and Marissa went in together.

"Summ, I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. I know you want to remember your wedding, and what better way than a Chrismukkah wedding in the rain?"

"It's perfect. I don't know how to thank you."

"Well you can go out and get married. And have a good time; I don't know how many more weddings you can get."

They hugged, and cried a bit, and redid their make-up again, and then they went back outside, ready for the wedding.

There was no walk down the aisle, but Ryan and Marissa stood at the front in front of the minister, both with umbrellas in one hand and their other hands linked.

They were both smiling, and everyone in their seats (all with their own umbrellas as well, of course) were smiling with them. There was a time when they didn't know if Ryan and Marissa were even still alive, and now to see them well on the road to recovery, with huge smiles on their faces and a lifetime of love ahead of them was enough to convert even the most stubborn of holiday haters.

The ceremony was over, and Ryan and Marissa kissed for the first (not technically) time as husband and wife, and then the food came out.

Marissa looked over at Summer with another shocked look on her face.

"What? You didn't think I could plan a wedding without food, did you?"

Once the CD player was working, and the food and drink had been consumed, it was time for the first dance.

Since they couldn't really hold umbrellas while dancing, they braved the rain (which was now pouring down) and danced as a married couple. Thinking back to the time they danced in almost the very same spot to Forever Young, they let themselves get caught up in the music while everyone around them talked.

Seth, his pounding headache slightly receding, was bouncing Noah up and down and tickling his stomach when Summer walked over.

"Hey Cohen."

"I think your plan went pretty well, wouldn't you say?"

They looked over at Ryan and Marissa, who were slowly swaying and laughing at something only they knew.

"I think it went perfectly."

"Then how about a little dancing of our own?"

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

After several hours of Chrismukkah magic of dancing in the rain and eating way too much, Summer decided she could finally call it a day. She sat down on the edge of the ottoman in the pool house and took off the high heels she slipped on after the ceremony (they were needed for the photos so she could look as tall as other people).

Seth sat down and joined her, after putting Noah down in his cot and making sure the party could continue without them. He put his arm around Summer's shoulders and pulled her closer.

"Well Summer Roberts, I think you've performed another Chrismukkah miracle. Ryan says he hasn't seen Marissa smile like that since before the crash."

"It was good, wasn't it. Everyone seemed to have a good time." Then, looking out at the party still going on, continued, "Seems to be having a good time."

"And it's all because of you."

"Yeah, I guess it is."

Out of nowhere, a little voice piped up from the corner. "Mama."

Summer turned to Seth with a look of shock on her face. "Did I just hear what I think I just heard?"

Seth nodded, his mouth wide. "I think our baby wants you." He broke into a huge smile; his son just said his very first word. And it came out so clear!

Summer hurried over to the cot, where Noah was sitting down holding his little plastic horse, his eyes wide, looking expectedly at Summer. She picked him up and snuggled him close.

"Noah, mummy's here. Are you OK?"

Noah responded by gurgling and repeating "Mama", causing Summer to be overcome with a rush of love for her adorable little son. She had been wishing that she would be his first word, thinking it would be just the best thing in the whole world. And it was. She couldn't describe how overwhelmed she felt that her little baby had just talked, and not just indistinguishable blabber but an actual word. She held him very close and then sat him down on Seth's lap, knowing he wanted to be just as involved.

They sat admiring the genius of their son until people noticed they were missing, and they went back and joined the party.

Marissa walked up to Seth and gave him a big hug, thanking him for helping out with what she called the best day ever. She then went over and gave Summer the biggest hug of her life, trying to demonstrate even a tiny bit of the gratitude she was feeling.

Everyone left the house in high spirits, and soon it was just Sandy and Kirsten, who had gone inside to help with the cleaning up, and Summer, Seth and Noah, who had gone back inside the pool house.

"That was without a doubt, the best Chrismukkah ever."

**A/N: Only 2 left!!**


	25. Chapter 25

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise. The lyrics are from one of my favourite ever songs, It Feels Like Home by Chantal Krevasiuk**

**A/N: So I thought I posted this chapter a week ago and was wondering why I received zero reviews, but then I realised I must have forgotten to click post or something. Anyway, here it is, sorry about the delay. Thanks to all my lovely reviewers.**

**CHAPTER 24: COMING TO AN END**

Summer went to the grocery store with Noah held close to her chest in a baby sling. And he was getting heavy too. And of course he wanted to crawl everywhere but it would be a little irresponsible to let a thirteen month old baby crawl around a crowded shopping centre where there was every chance he would get stomped on or get stuck in the suspicious liquid that always seemed to be in aisle 14.

She hated grocery shopping too. It was so different to clothes shopping. Everything was needed and not just wanted. It wasn't fun to fuss over what colour toilet paper you were going to buy like it was to figure out what colour coat to purchase. And it was most definitely not fun to line up for an hour waiting to get to a cash register.

This sort of thing never happened in Newport. There always seemed to be a cash register free in Newport, Summer had noticed over the years.

She had been thinking more and more about Newport lately. And she only thought about the good things; not the superficiality or anything like that, but the relaxed lifestyle and the closeness to relatives and the great memories of her own childhood. She hadn't talked about any of this to Seth of course. She knew how much he hated Newport, and how he wanted to live on the east coast for most of his life. But it was definitely something she thought about a lot.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Honey I'm home and I've been working hard all day. You better have something good cooking for me." 

Seth had just walked into the house and yelled a greeting which had become very familiar, probably thinking he was being very hilarious. He walked into the living room and saw Summer sitting on the ground playing with Noah, who was walking around like a mad man, stopping only when Summer stuck out a hand to stop him and pull him into her lap.

"Where's my dinner?"

"Couldn't be bothered. We'll get take out."

"And here I was thinking I'd escaped marrying my mother."

Summer glared at him before turning back to Noah, who could now say 'Mama' with ease and had moved onto harder words such as 'Cohen'.

Seth flopped down on the ground next to Summer and held out his arms for Noah.

"So what was on today?"

"You know, the usual. Grocery shopping that took at least eight hours waiting in the queue. Noah refused to eat his strawberries and threw his plate across the room. I ripped my favourite pants. Just a normal day."

"Lots of fun?"

"Totally. What about you? All corporate high flying and whatnot?"

"It was good. Hunter put my name up for a promotion and we got a really big deal."

"That's great. So you really like working in these New York offices?"

"I guess. Why?"

"No reason."

Truthfully, Summer was sussing out to see whether Seth was happy or not in New York to see whether he would be happier or not in Newport.

The more she had thought about it over the past few weeks, the more she realised that she loved being in Newport, and although New York was great, she didn't want to spend her life there. She wanted to be back in Newport; back home with Seth.

But she wasn't planning on squashing Seth's hopes of living his dream life in the city he had wanted to be in since he was five.

The last time they were in Newport, for Marissa's wedding, was when she really realised that she wanted to move back. She had had such a great time. The parties were so much fun, she knew everyone, everything was so comfortable and familiar, and she always felt like she was missing out on what should rightfully be her life.

Marissa and Ryan were close to the beach and had this great life in their house together. Sandy and Kirsten were happier than ever; and while she and Seth were ridiculously happy, she felt that they would be better off in Newport.

"Oh, and I talked to Kirsten today as well. They got the photos from the wedding printed up, and apparently there's a really cute one of you and Noah jumping in the puddles."

"Is she sending it over?"

"Yep."

"Awesome."

"Hey, did you have fun in Newport?"

"What?" Seth moved closer to Summer and waited for her to rest her head on his shoulder, which of course she did. They linked hands and he continued. "Of course I did. I always have fun in Newport. Why?"

"No reason. I just had a great time."

"OK then, if you insist. I think your stressful day affected your brain. You're not making any sense." He ducked away before she could hurt him for his comments, before ordering dinner.

The rest of the night went uneventfully; Noah decided to eat his food for once, and the walls remained intact. Summer and Seth climbed into bed nice and early and watched a movie, and then turned the lights off. Just as Summer heard Seth's breathing become deeper; a sure sign he was drifting off to sleep, she decided she had to speak. She couldn't pretend not to be feeling how she was, so she had to let Seth know.

"Hey Cohen?"

Summer turned round and faced Seth, who had his eyes closed and did not look happy that he was being disturbed. She turned the light on to make sure he didn't go back to sleep and then waited for him to stir.

"What do you want woman? I've got stuff to do tomorrow."

"Cohen, open your eyes now." The stern voice was enough to get him to pay attention.

"Alright, alright, I'm up. What do you want?"

"I want to move back to Newport."

That really had Seth's attention, and he sat up rather quickly. "What?"

"I've been thinking about it a lot, and I want to move to Newport. And I know you love your life and your job and there's no way you would want to go back to the place you hated, but its how I feel and I thought you should know."

Seth sat silently for a minute, trying to comprehend the enormity of what she was saying. Not only that, but the speed at which she spoke. He thought only Cohens talked like that, and in a way felt oddly proud that Summer was following in his rambling ways. But on to more important things; she had just admitted to hating their life. Not really, but she had just said something huge.

Eventually, Seth spoke up.

"How long have you been thinking this?"

"A long time. But, I mean, I _really_ thought about it since Coop's wedding. Second wedding."

"So you've thought about it for four weeks without telling me? Why?"

"Because I know you love New York so much, and I knew you were busy, and I didn't want to impose on that."

Seth cupped his hands around Summer's face and spoke. "You know that you can tell me whatever you want. It's not imposing on me, or burdening me or whatever else you think. It's what I'm here for; it's why you married me. A 24 hour counselling service and advice centre all rolled into one. You didn't just marry me for my looks."

"So what do you think?"

"I don't know. It's huge. To be completely honest, I had no idea you were thinking that. You'll have to give me a bit of time. OK?"

"OK."

"But you can tell me whatever else you're feeling. OK?"

"OK."

"Now let's go to sleep. I'm tired."

He kissed Summer's hair and pulled her close to him, and they fell asleep together, with the façade of happy dreams but secretly thinking much more serious and important thoughts.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"I'm off to work."

Seth stepped out of the bedroom wearing a slick grey suit and green tie, holding a briefcase in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other.

"Bye Cohen."

Summer looked up from the difficult job of feeding Noah his breakfast and gave Seth a knowing look. "Have you thought about what I said last night?"

"Yes, but I don't have anything to say yet."

"OK." She kissed him on his way out and was left to her daily duties, with plenty of time to think about the conversation between herself and Seth the previous night, and the possible consequences.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Seth had spent the last four hours sitting at his office mulling over paperwork from the deals made the day before. More accurately, he was looking at the papers but was not taking anything in. All he could think about was Summer; she wasn't happy in New York. Or she was happy, but not as happy as if she were in Newport.

He gazed out of his office window, taking in the view of the magnificent, beautiful, busy city of New York. The long commute into work each day was worth it to feel the buzz of the city. But then again, he felt that same buzz when he stepped out of his parents house and saw the ocean stretching as far as the eye could see. And if he could feel that buzz when he was in Newport, closer to his family and friends, than was that a better option?

He truly loved New York, and the last eighteen months they had spent there together were some of the happiest of his life. All the exciting changes they experienced together were amazing.

He looked over at the photo that occupied his desk and so many hours of his time when he was bored or stressed. It was Summer, sitting on the ground in their living room, with Noah sitting on her lap. It had been taken a month or so ago, and Noah had food all over his face. They were both smiling widely, as if they were playing a fun little game that no one else knew about. When Seth saw that as he came home one night, he had to take a photo because it was so great. And all of a sudden, he knew just what he had to do.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

When Seth got home, dinner was ready. Summer, having felt bad about not cooking the day before, had prepared something nice for him to be ready when he got home, and they ate mostly in silence.

Once Noah was fast asleep, Seth decided to drop the information he had been holding in all night.

"Summ, I have something to tell you."

"Yeah?" She just knew it would be about Newport, but was nervous about what he had to say.

"I quit my job this afternoon. I gave them my two weeks notice."

"What?!" She was most definitely not expecting that. "Why?"

"I thought about what you said. And I agree. We should move back to Newport. Its home."

"I thought we were going to talk about it."

"We did. Last night. I told you I'd think about it, and I've thought about it. I thought you would be over the moon."

Summer was dumbstruck. "When I said we'd talk about it, I meant we'd talk practical stuff. We're adults now; we have to make responsible decisions."

Now it was Seth's turn to be shocked. "But this was what you wanted. You wanted to move back to Newport."

"When it was the right time. When there were arrangements in place. When we knew we would have somewhere to go when we got back to Newport and things were taken care of. Do you want us to sleep on the street?"

"First of all, we have my parents. And second, you said you wanted to move. I do something so we can and you're angry? Don't you think you're the one who's being impractical?"

Summer stormed off to the bedroom, leaving them both confused over what had happened.

Seth thought Summer would be overjoyed when she heard he had quit his job. It would mean she could move back to Newport. Instead, she seemed angry. Did he make a big mistake? When he went upstairs and saw his pyjamas and pillow sitting outside the closed door, he knew he would be sleeping in the guest room. Again.

Summer was being very pensive as she sat on the bed staring at the wall. Seth had just done something incredibly stupid. But it was also incredibly sensitive and thoughtful. Quit his job and resigned his life in New York so Summer could be the happiest possible. Why had she gotten angry instead of happy? After a while, she decided to go see Seth. She could never go more than a few hours of being angry anyway.

She knocked on the door and found him rearranging the pillows so they were all under his head, just the way he liked it.

"Hey Cohen."

"Hey."

He sat on the bed and Summer sat down beside him and took his hand, which he surprisingly let happen and did not pull away as she would have done in the same situation.

"Sorry about before."

"Why are you angry about it? I thought you'd be happy."

"I honestly don't know." He smiled his quirky smile at her and she continued. "I guess I was stressing out a bit about how you'd react, and it came as a bit of a shock when you actually agreed."

"So your natural reaction was anger?"

"It's in my blood Cohen. Remember the rage blackouts?"

With that he laughed and hugged her tightly. "So what do you think now you've gotten used to the idea I'm agreeing with you?"

"Let's do it. The sooner the better."

"OK, let's do it."

"Really?"

"Really." She kissed him with all the passion she could muster, and then asked; "Are you sure you're OK leaving New York? I know how much you love it."

"I love you more. And if you're not happy here, then neither am I. You're my home Summ."

"You're so cheesy."

"I know."

They stayed up for most of the night planning what they would do for the next couple of weeks and what they would do in the longer term. And before they knew it, it was morning and they had to get on with the rest of their lives.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

"Cohen, are we all packed?"

"Is that a trick question?" Seth looked out over their now empty house, all the boxes having left in a truck the day before. It was just over a month since their big decision, and everything was now waiting for them in Newport. A new three bedroom home close to the beach, and although Seth didn't have a job, there was an offer and he was waiting to suss it out when they arrived. Summer was also planning on getting a job, now Noah was old enough that she felt she could leave him in day care without having to call five times a day to check on him.

"Just checking." He squeezed her hand and they walked off to the taxi, Noah fast asleep in Seth's arms. As the taxi was driving away, Summer caught one last glimpse at their home for the past year and a half.

It was beautiful, there was no denying that. But as she looked at Seth and Noah, she realised that they were so much more important. And she would love being in Newport, but she would settle for being with them any day of the week. Because – even though this may sound incredibly cheesy, like a line from a B grade daytime soap – with them, it felt like home.

_Something in your eyes  
Makes me want to lose myself  
Makes me want to lose myself  
In your arms  
There's something in your voice  
Makes my heart beat fast  
Hope this feeling lasts  
The rest of my life  
If you knew how lonely my life has been  
And how long I've felt so low  
If you knew how I wanted someone to come along  
And change my life the way you've done  
_

_Feels like home to me  
Feels like home to me  
Feels like I'm all the way back where  
I come from  
Feels like home to me  
Feels like home to me  
Feels like I'm all the way back where I belong_

A window breaks down a long dark street  
And a siren wails in the night  
But I'm alright 'cause I have you here with me  
And I can almost see through the dark there's light

If you knew how much this moment means to me  
And how long I've waited for your touch  
If you knew how happy you are making me  
I've never thought I'd love anyone so much

Feels like I'm all the way back where I belong

**A/N: So this story just has a short epilogue which I've already finished. I know that there isn't much enthusiasm for this story anymore (I'm sick of writing it too) but I'd LOVE it if this story went out with a bang with lots and lots of reviews. If I do get lots of reviews, I'm quite happy to post the epilogue tomorrow.**

**Also, I have a few ideas for stories that I'm in the process of writing – I hope everyone wants to read them because I'm excited about them.**

**I love you guys!**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognise.**

**A/N: So this is it. Thanks to everyone who is still reading and reviewing, and thanks to everyone who reviewed along the way. This being my first story, it means a whole lot that you took the time and effort to let me know how you liked the chapters and you're the main reason I'm writing another story.**

**I hope everyone will read my next story, probably called Love Enters the Picture (SS of course) and it will be up as soon as I decide if I like where it's going.**

**EPILOGUE**

Seth looked out at the ocean from where he was sitting in the sand and wondered if there was any better view in the entire world. Then he was interrupted by a shrill little voice from beside him and he remembered that there was.

His beautiful two and a half year old daughter was looking up at him with what could only be described as Summer's eyes – an exact replica of the colour and intensity. Her corkscrew curls were hanging freely around her shoulders, held back from her face with a big yellow headband. She was wearing her favourite new bathers, bright pink with yellow polka dots, and had insisted on wearing floaties around her arms even though she was nowhere near the water.

"Daddy, let's go swimming!" She smiled her adorable smile and there was no way Seth could resist; he was whipped. He had the cutest little daughter in the world, and she had him wrapped around her little finger, and she knew it.

"Whatever you say princess."

They splashed about in the shallow water until Bella got tired, and they started walking back up in the sand. Or more accurately, Seth was walking and carrying his small daughter who refused to walk herself.

He got the towels out of the bag and wrapped her tightly in her own Disney Princess one. Then he called Noah over and made sure he had his Spiderman towel with him before they set off on the walk home.

Noah had inherited his dad's crazy curls and dimples. He was now five years old, and as Isabella was daddy's little girl, Noah was a mummy's boy.

"Come on Noah, it's time to go home. Or else mummy will get mad."

"OK daddy."

He walked alongside Seth who was still carrying Bella. When they reached the ice cream stand, Seth knew he stood no chance. Two very independent, very vocal children passing an ice cream stand?

He ordered one pink (for his daughter who did not yet grasp that it was strawberry), one banana (for Noah) and a triple chocolate for himself. Otherwise his kids would just feel guilty that they had some while their dad didn't.

He found that it was extremely difficult to carry a daughter who was dripping water, sand and strawberry ice cream everywhere at the same time as supervising his boisterous son, carry a bag of towels and eat his own ice cream, but he was a master multi tasker now and he managed.

When they got home, he forgot about the rule and let his kids run wild through the front door.

He soon remembered that he shouldn't have done that when he finished dumping the towels in the laundry to find a dripping, dirty Bella clinging to Summer's clean, white dress.

He watched as she lifted Bella up for a cuddle, but forgot to avoid the stare that came his way.

"You're cleaning that mess up Cohen."

He turned around and saw the trail of sand leading across the tiles in the entrance hall.

"No problems."

"And you're bathing your little princess because I don't have enough time now because you're late."

"OK."

Summer looked at Bella's face and saw the pink around her mouth.

"Did you have ice cream sweetie?"

Despite Seth's frantic head shaking, she started giggling and nodding. To avoid the look he would get for feeding his already hyper kids sugar, he leant over and picked up Noah, who was standing close by.

"Your children had a fantastic time at the beach by the way, didn't they Noah."

"Mummy, it was so much fun. I built a sand castle and dad helped me build a moat."

"That's great sweetie. Now go and take off your dirty clothes outside so mummy can wash them."

"OK." He ran off outside, and Seth went to take Bella out of Summer's arms to give her the bath she so thoroughly needed. He paused as his face brushed against Summer's, and gave her a lingering kiss.

"Love you Summ."

When he came back forty minutes later, a gleaming clean daughter dressed in a cute bright green dress squirming in his arms, all the fuss over the dirty floors and the sugar overload was forgotten, and Summer was back to the easygoing wife she normally was. While Noah and Bella were sitting on the carpet playing with their toys, Summer and Seth curled up on the lounge and rested. Kids were incredibly active.

"How are you feeling Summ?"

"OK. A bit nauseous, but it's been the same for the last three weeks."

He looked down at her stomach, and saw it had changed slightly since when he last examined it the day before. He swore it was rounder; not bigger but just different in ways he couldn't explain.

"Can we cope with another one?"

"I have a feeling that she won't be as active as these two. She's going to be nice and calm, and good to her mother."

"It's a girl is it?"

"I can feel that too. Never underestimate the power of women's intuition."

"You know, if you keep popping them out at the rate you are, we might need a bigger house."

"You really shouldn't be talking that way to the mother of your children. I might just go crazy and kill you when you're sleeping."

"True. Sorry." He leant over and kissed her just as the doorbell rang.

It was Marissa and Ryan, coming a little early for the dinner that Summer had planned for them, Sandy and Kirsten to tell them about the pregnancy.

Of course, it was never just Ryan and Marissa anymore. It was Ryan, Marissa and Amy, their three month old daughter. It came as a surprise to both of them when they found out Marissa was pregnant, but it was a good surprise and she was a very welcome addition to their household.

"Hey Coop!" Summer ran up and hugged her best friend before turning her attention to Amy. Summer remembered when Bella was that age with her tufty brown hair and big, bright eyes, but Amy was different. She looked much more serious and intense (I suppose just like Ryan) with her deep blue eyes and marginal amounts of blonde hair. She was also a lot quieter than Isabella; Ryan and Marissa obviously lucked out with a docile little baby who hardly ever cried and would probably never throw a tantrum when the terrible twos struck, unlike Bella who had something to scream about every single day.

They walked into their modest three bedroom house – they were looking to upsize so each of their children could have their own room (kids don't share in Orange County), and talked for a while until Sandy and Kirsten joined them and they sat down for dinner.

After dessert, when everyone was extremely content and full, Summer and Seth dropped the pregnancy bomb. As expected, everyone was over the moon, incredibly happy that the loud, energetic, boisterous bunch of Cohens was about to expand. Although Kirsten was beginning to get a bit worried.

She always offered to babysit Noah and Bella which was great, but they could really take it out of her. They were just so loud and energetic. And talkative – there was no way in the world that those two little children could not be Seth's kids. She didn't know if she could handle another mini Cohen to try and calm down.

In between having talking contests with Noah (the first person to stop talking loses), playing tea party with Bella and breaking up fights, she couldn't imagine having time for another little boy or girl.

Everyone left on very good terms, and Summer and Seth set about the long and arduous task of getting Noah and Bella into bed. It was the same every night.

First, Noah flat out refused. He would rather stay up late and watch TV with his parents. Then, he agreed to have his bath but he would stay up after that. Then he wouldn't brush his teeth, and finally, once all those struggles were over, he refused to go to bed without every one of his sixteen stuffed toys. Once he was finally asleep, Seth went in to see how Summer was faring with Bella.

"Read another story!"

"I just read you a hundred."

Seth joined in from the corridor.

"I'll read you a story, but only one story and then you have to promise you will go to sleep."

"OK daddy."

Summer went to stand up but waited until Bella had given her customary goodnight hug and smothering of kisses.

Seth read her a story he had wrote and illustrated, about two horses called Captain Oats and Princess Sparkle, who found each other in a magical land, but saw she was fast asleep long before the end of the story. He pulled up her bright pink blanket and kissed her softly on the head, smoothing back her crazy hair.

He loved his little girl more than anything in the entire world and this was probably his favourite time of all with her, when it was just the two of them.

He reluctantly left the room and crawled into bed with Summer.

"I'm so tired I can't even turn the light off."

"I know what you mean."

Summer moved closed into Seth's body and he instinctively wrapped his arms around her.

"I love you Summ."

"I love you too Cohen."

They fell asleep in each others arms as soon as the lights were turned off, with Seth's hands resting protectively on Summer's stomach, in which his new little baby was growing.

They woke up to the sound of little footsteps, followed by the very loud sound of a shriek and the feeling of a little body crawling across their feet.

"Mummy, daddy!"

Bella was up.

She made her presence known and snuggled in between the sleepy couple, who were woken up way too early. This was followed by Noah who came bouncing in.

As Summer, Seth and their kids lay in bed on a lazy Sunday morning, Summer realised that this was perfection. Here in Newport with her beautiful, amazing family, there was nothing better. Nothing at all.

**A/N: Just another huge thanks to all my reviewers, you guys are the best!**

**Please please please review one last time and let me know what you think, and look out for my future stories. **


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